Violent Hearts
by KillamriX88
Summary: It's said a butterfly can start a tornado miles away with the flap of its wings. When one little bird changes the course of her wings, what will happen? In the heat of the moment one rash decision will change... everything.
1. I Hate Running

**Warning: This fic will contain OCs, both ashikabi and sekirei.**

**Don't know what ashikabi and sekirei are? Don't worry about it. I do my best to explain the important things as I go.**

**This fic starts a little over a month before the Sekirei manga does in canon.**

**Note: a '. . .' indicates either a scene change, a POV change, or both. **

* * *

><p><strong>I Hate Running<strong>

She ran through the streets of Tokyo, her small body carrying her as fast as she could make it go. She had been running for a while, her hair was a mess, and her breaths were becoming painful from sucking in the cold air. A few people tried to stop her and ask what was wrong, but she wouldn't stop.

"_How dare they try and do something like that? I'll figure things out for myself!"_ she ranted in her head. She felt like the thought had gone through her mind a thousand times already. She just kept running and running, and her mind just played the same, angry lines through her head over and over.

She felt like she must have been running for hours. Finally, she had to stop. She looked up and grit her teeth at the sight of a tall building looming over the cityscape. It was as if she hadn't run away at all. She'd hoped to get far enough away that she wouldn't be able to see it standing there like a hateful obelisk staring back at her. Hell, she'd been running so long; who was to say she hadn't gone in circles? She stumbled into an alley where the close quarters would block her view of the hated building. She leaned against the cool stone of the wall and waited for her heart and breathing to slow.

She decided it was a bad idea a minute later. Now she just felt tired and hungry. No, she should keep running for now, if only to stay awake. That way at least she'd be able to keep her mind partly occupied, even if it was only to focus on the pain of pushing herself so hard. With that she stepped back out of the chilly, shadowed alley and into the mid-day sun that promised more heat than it actually gave in that season. She turned away from the tall building and resumed running, hoping soon it would no longer be over her shoulder every time she glanced back.

**. . .**

In the more suburban area of Tokyo, one house was getting a bit loud. It was an occurrence that happened about twice a week. The neighbors could practically set their watches by it at this point.

"Boy, don't walk away from me! My patience is wearing thin!" a man shouted. A moment later the front door of the house in question swung open.

"Love you too, father," a young man responded tiredly as he exited. He had blond hair down to his shoulders and blue eyes. His left eye however had sectoral heterochromia and about a quarter of it was a reddish brown. In the past he'd complained that he hadn't gotten something better, like green, as he'd found the brown ugly. Now though, he just ignored it for the most part. He was also tall, merely a half inch away from being over six feet.

"Wait, Madoka!" a woman called out. His mother.

"Sorry, mother," the young man, Madoka, replied. He continued out the door, shutting it behind him. He knew his parents would argue now, but he didn't want to deal with it. He was sick of it all. He only visited for his mother's sake. He wouldn't say he hated his father, but he couldn't recall having a friendly conversation with the man within the last five, maybe more, years.

He couldn't stay longer and work through his family issues now, regardless of his utter lack of any desire to do so. Unfortunately, he had a job. Why unfortunate? Because getting from his parent's home to his job took too long and he'd likely be late. Again. He took the time out of his day to visit his family and all he ever felt he got was a bad taste in his mouth and a dirty look from his employer. There wasn't anything he could do about it now except get moving though.

He began to cross the street only to find that, a moment later, a car that was breaking the speed limit was careening towards him. It swerved at the last minute, though not before nearly giving him a heart attack, and slowed down. Apparently it wasn't out of concern, however.

"WATCH IT, ASSHOLE!" the driver took the time to yell and throw an empty can out of the window and at his head. It missed, but a few drops of the liquid still spilled onto his shirt as it bounced off his chest. The car then sped off.

Madoka sighed. "Ugh... I'm gonna kill myself... I'm gonna kill myself... I'm gonna kill myself..." he muttered repeatedly under his breath. Lips pursed tightly in frustration, he continued on his way to work, contemplating the least painful method of suicide as he went.

Eventually his contemplation ended and he just shook his head. His life may have been terribly mediocre with the occasional extra rough patch thrown in, but he'd manage. Probably. He arrived at his job of stocking shelves at a small convenience store about 20 minutes after the incident with the speeding driver. It was bigger than what one might find at a gas station, but not as big as a department or grocery store.

"You're late. Again," his boss said harshly. His voice was naturally a higher pitch which made it easy for him to speak in a tone which would hurt one's ears. He then leaned close to Madoka and sniffed him. "Alcohol. You've been drinking?" He narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Apparently, he had almost been hit by a drunk driver instead of simply a bad one.

"No. Someone threw a can at me." Madoka shrugged nonchalantly. "Apparently, I offended them when I interrupted their drunk driving." Fortunately, he must have looked lucid enough that his boss decided not to press the matter.

"Get in uniform, you're still late!" The man impatiently motioned for him to get moving. His uniform was actually just a red apron with the store's logo and a name-tag, so it didn't take him long to get to work. An hour later, Madoka was stacking cans on the shelves.

He figured half the reason he still had a job was because of how meticulous he was. He sometimes wondered if he had OCD since he could never leave an aisle until everything was _perfect._ Thankfully, he was also fast so perfection didn't take long. The counterbalance to his work ethic was his temper. He had a lot of repressed anger on a good day. Today was not a good day.

"Sir. Remove that from your coat," Madoka said halfheartedly to a customer who thought he was being sneaky. He got no response and the man simply tried to walk away. Madoka clenched his fists and followed him. "I know you heard me..." he growled. The man walked faster. Oh, he'd heard him. "That's it." He chuckled darkly before smirking a little. This might actually feel good.

Madoka quickly caught up to the man, who'd been on his way to the exit, and grabbed his shoulder.

"Sir, let me escort you to the exit," Madoka said and then quickly tore the soon to be stolen item away from the shoplifter.

**. . .**

Outside, the air was crisp and the sky was clear. It was a nice day if one could get past the slight chill.

"AND DON'T COME BACK, YOU SHOPLIFTING BASTARD!" A man suddenly flew out of a convenience store and tumbled across the sidewalk into the street. He quickly got up, whimpering in terror, before running as fast as he could.

**. . .**

Back in the convenience store, all the customers had turned to stare at Madoka. Well, he _had _just picked up another man and thrown him out of the establishment. He supposed it wasn't something they saw every day. One or two clapped quietly while the rest quickly looked away to finish their business there. The one thing on none of their minds was stealing.

"Madoka," he heard his boss sigh behind him. "I'm warning you! You're going to scare away customers! We have security cameras, I don't need you attacking thieves! This is the third time I'm telling you this!" A moment later he heard the door open as a new customer walked in.

"Right... sorry." Madoka shook his head. He was sure his boss was a little miffed to have someone walk in right as he suggested Madoka was scaring off customers. It certainly weakened his argument.

"Just stop attacking customers who steal! It's too much! You might be arrested instead!" The man finished his rant and walked off to the back of the store.

**. . .**

"_And stop attacking customers who steal!"_ The words ran through her head. Damn, damn, damn! This was the worst place she could have walked into. She'd had a card for expenses, but in the end looking at it had made her too angry and she'd tossed it away. However, now she was worried about causing a commotion if she got caught stealing because she had no money! She could just leave, but she was starving and it wasn't like going somewhere else would magically cause her to be able to pay for anything. No, she'd be stealing no matter where she went. She might as well just get it over with.

"Hey, you need something?" She nearly jumped out of her skin. In her indecision she'd just been standing there blankly which had drawn the attention of the angry man who supposedly attacked people.

"No! No, no, no!" She shook her head rapidly. "Wait, yes. Uh... food!" What the hell was her problem? It wasn't like he was going to hurt her. Not that he even could if he tried. Then again as tired, hungry, and a little cold as she was, maybe he could.

"Can you be more specific?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Anything is fine. I'm hungry," she spoke more confidently now.

"Well 'anything' includes things you need to cook. If you're hungry now, then you might not want that." He wasn't being very polite, but he was clearly in a very bad mood. She could sympathize.

"Well, err, what do you have?" she asked as if expecting him to list things off one by one for her.

"Miss, this isn't a restaurant. Just... ugh, I have to stock those shelves anyway. Whatever, follow me," he grumbled and walked off, not seeming to care if she followed him. For a moment she was pleased that she was getting her way. Then dismay struck her when she remembered that she couldn't pay for anything and now he'd be watching her if she tried to steal.

"_DAMMIT!"_ she screamed in her head, but followed him anyway. Once in an aisle, the young man set down a box and began stocking a shelf. He must have known the place by heart because he began listing things off without even looking.

"Meal replacement bars are on the right. Energy bars are below them..." He went on to name more, but all she heard in her mind was a list of stolen goods; or at least they would be if she decided to take them. She considered stealing money from another customer, but she had no idea if she'd make a good pickpocket and figured she'd likely be caught anyway. She was starting to not feel so good. She felt herself growing extremely hot, and her running must have been catching up with her because her knees were starting to feel weak.

"Miss, are you OK? You look a little feverish." She just then noticed that he'd walked over to her. Suddenly, she felt claustrophobic and quickly reached out to push him away. The second she touched him it felt like she had taken a 1,000-foot fall the way her heart lurched in her chest. He stumbled away from her she had pushed him so hard.

"S-sorry. Lost my appetite," she stuttered and quickly turned to leave. She heard the man say something, certainly confused by her actions, but she didn't care what it was. She had to get away.

**. . .**

Madoka was left standing in the store, blinking in confusion. First off, a girl who was at least nine inches shorter than him had just pushed him hard enough to nearly knock him over. Secondly, she had looked very strange and not just because she'd gone from looking fine to looking like she was about to pass out in the span of 30 seconds. She'd been wearing tight, black bike shorts and a black and red floral pattern, short-sleeved top held shut by a cloth belt. She also had been wearing red gloves like what he'd expect a martial artist to wear. To top it off her hair was pink. The hair would have made him peg her as some loser, scene kid, but the outfit made him think differently. Maybe she was just insane.

"I swear, I am _so_ close to just giving up on humanity..." He shook his head and got back to work.

**. . .**

She was running again. She wasn't even paying attention to where or what direction. She ran until she was certain the reason her heart was racing was from exertion and nothing else. To be honest, she was getting sick of running. Finally, she stopped again and doubled over putting her hands on her knees to catch her breath.

"D-dammit... what's wrong with me?" She shut her eyes tightly as she tried to catch her breath, but she was finding that near impossible. She'd run out of stamina much faster than she should have this time. She'd been running on empty for a while now, but even so she felt strangely weak. Gathering what energy she could, she straightened up and stumbled down the side of the street for a while longer.

Eventually, the sun started setting and her heart sank along with it. When she'd started running she hadn't really planned ahead. "Is it going to get colder?" she asked herself. She'd never spent a night outside and the air was already chill. She hung her head and found herself in an alley. She hoped it wouldn't be too hard to sleep.

Both of her worries came to pass.

**. . .**

"I'm leaving," Madoka called out to his boss at the end of his shift, having stashed his apron and made his way to the exit.

"Come back in the morning," his boss called back.

"I don't work mornings." Madoka turned and looked quizzically back at the man.

"No more part-time, our morning worker quit today. You'll be taking a full shift unless you want to lose your job. And try to be on time."

"Son of a..." Madoka muttered to himself. This was too short notice, it wasn't fair! They couldn't just threaten his job because of someone_ else!_ He clenched his fists, but bit back the many arguments that came to him. "Fine, I'll be here." He sighed and then pushed the door open and left. "I hate my life."

**. . .**

She shivered hard as she woke up and worried that her teeth would break against each other as they chattered. She'd nearly frozen to death that night. Morning brought nearly no relief and she swore she saw frost on the windows above her. She started walking in the hope that she'd get warmed up, but it didn't do much. Short sleeves had been a bad idea it seemed. She felt weak and as two hours passed, even just walking was making her breathe a bit heavier.

"Well look at you, out of breath and we haven't even met yet," she jumped at a female voice speaking. She glanced in the direction it came from to see two women with long, dark hair in horrendously skimpy outfits. How the hell were they not freezing to death themselves? A pang of jealousy hit her when she realized they must have a warm place to sleep. They probably weren't still alone like her. "You'll be victim number four." Victim?

"Umm...we didn't actually get the first three..." her partner mumbled. That was only a mild comfort to hear.

"Shut up!" the first one snapped and looked back at her. "Hmph, judging by your pitiful state you're still without an ashikabi. So sad. But we'll put you out of your misery." The two women suddenly linked hands and electricity sparked around them.

"_No! I'm not ready for this!"_ Her eyes widened at the sight. She quickly turned and ran, sprinted, away from them. _"I feel sick! I can't keep running like this!"_ She darted onto a side street and then found an alleyway off of that. For a moment she thought she was safe, but then a garbage can next to her exploded as lightning hit it. _"DAMMIT!"_

She tried to run faster, but ended up stumbling and nearly tripped. The alley ended and she ran across a street, almost getting hit by a car, and then into another alley. Everything was starting to hurt and she hadn't even been hit by their lightning.

She skidded to a halt at the sight of a man with silver hair before her. He wasn't old, in fact he looked fairly young. He had a black, tailed coat on, matching black gloves, and a mask covering the lower half of his face.

"You're alone... Keep running. You know what you have to do if you want to survive," he said to her and stepped aside. "They won't be following you much longer, but that doesn't mean they won't find you again later." She wasn't sure what to make of him, but decided not to ask questions and resumed running. True to his words, as she kept running, somehow, she didn't see hide nor hair of the scantily clad women. About ten minutes later she was spent and slowed to a stumbling walk, barely staying on her feet.

"Well, you look even worse today," she heard after walking for a short while.

"NO!" She shut her eyes tightly and held her arms in front of her to fend off an attack. However, she then realized it had been a male voice. She then cracked an eye open and saw a semi-familiar face. Dropping her hands she turned her head and found that she was out in front of the same store she'd almost robbed the day before. "What the hell?" Furthermore it was the same angry man she'd shoved.

"Yeah, I'm asking myself the same thing here..." The man before her gave her a confused and tired look. Suddenly she didn't feel cold anymore and she was starting to think it had nothing to do with running. On a whim she suddenly walked forward and pressed her hands against his chest, experiencing the same powerful sensation she'd felt the last time she touched him. She then pushed him all the way into the alley behind the store. "Wh-hey! What are yo- STOP IT!" He pulled away from her, but she'd already gotten him where she wanted him.

He glared at her suspiciously, though she couldn't imagine she seemed like much of a threat. He was taller, and she must have looked like... well, she didn't want to think how bad she must look after running for miles and sleeping in a cold alleyway.

"So... if you're trying to mug me you're not off to a good start," he said, but she had much different things in mind.

"No... that is... I... umm." If only she knew where to start. She'd just randomly run into him moments after escaping near termination; she hadn't had any time to plan. She hadn't know she'd need to have! "I'm a sekirei!" Well, she never had been one for subtlety.

**. . .**

Madoka had wondered if perhaps this girl was insane when he'd first run into her. Now he was sure of it. What the hell was she talking about? A sekirei?

"I don't... I... what?" Madoka blinked a few times. She'd shoved him into an alley to tell him this delusional nonsense?

"You heard me!" The psychotic girl before him crossed her arms. "N-now pay attention!" At this point he saw that her face was rapidly turning red.

"Yes. OK. I'll listen to whatever yo-" he started to say slowly, but-

"Don't talk to me like I'm stupid!" She glared at him.

"Right. Sorry," he replied in a normal voice. "So... Sekirei?"

"Yes. And I need an ashikabi," she continued, staring into his eyes with an unsettling intensity.

"Yeah... we don't sell those. Whatever the hell those are." He glanced around, hoping someone might rescue him from this awkward situation. He wasn't scared, but he was definitely confused.

"Ashikabi are people." The girl continued to stare at him... at _him._

"Oh," he said and then his eyes widened. "Wh- me? No. No, no! I stock shelves and sweep floors, I'm not a... a... what the hell is an ashikabi?" Why did this have to happen to him? Wasn't his life annoying enough as it was?

"I'm a sekirei and I need an ashikabi. The... the way I feel right now... you have to be one. _My_ one." She was starting to look desperate now.

"Yeah, that's great and all, but that doesn't tell me anything! I don't even know who you are! How can I be an ashikabi if I've never even heard of all this stuff? And what do you mean, 'your one?'" Madoka asked. He didn't know why he was asking her these questions as if what she was saying weren't the ramblings of a deranged psychopath.

"I'm Benitsubasa, sekirei number 105." She started walking towards him.

"OK... that's a start. I guess," he responded and took a step back, but she was advancing quickly now. Suddenly she took a big step forward and grabbed the front of his shirt.

"Please... be my ashikabi." She stared up at him longingly. For a second he was entranced and found himself staring back. He shook his head and forced himself to come back to his senses.

"Assuming I were to say yes, how? You don't even know me!" He tried to lean away, but found she was actually rather strong.

"What's your name?"

**. . .**

"Err... Madoka..." he answered her. He sounded very uncertain and it looked as if he regretted telling her the moment he said it. For her, though, him saying that was all she needed. Without thinking about it any more she pulled down on his shirt so his face was brought down closer to hers...

**. . .**

Suddenly her face was a lot closer to his. Though, perhaps it would be more correct to say _his_ face had suddenly been _forced_ closer to _hers_. Before he could react her face got even closer, much closer. His eyes shut instinctively, but he could still feel something soft touch his lips. He realized she'd just kissed him. Even though his eyes were shut, he noticed that something incredibly bright was shining in front of him. He opened his eyes and glimpsed something shining over her back, but it was gone a split second later before he could identify it.

He looked down and saw that her head was now pressed against his chest with a small smile on her lips. She looked very happy now.

"Did... did I just get sexually assaulted by a fourteen year old?" He twitched. She was certainly small enough, though to someone his height a lot of people seemed small. The girl's eyes snapped open and she quickly pulled away.

"Moron, I'm not that young!" she growled, teeth gritted dangerously as she pointed a lecturing finger at him. "Just because my bre-"

"Whoa! Slow down!" he interrupted. "What did you just do?"

"I'm your sekirei now," Benitsubasa replied, crossing her arms as she calmed down a bit.

"Riiight... OK?" He didn't get it. Benitsubasa sighed and walked over to a nearby dumpster.

"Watch." She ordered and grabbed it before straining. He figured he should stop her for fear she'd hurt herself, but even as her face started to turn red from the effort, the dumpster actually began to tilt to one side as Benitsubasa lifted up the side she had grabbed. With one hand.

"I... I don't...I ca- I can't... I don't... I... can't... h-how?" Madoka stuttered in shock at her physical achievement. He jumped slightly when she dropped it with a loud, resounding bang.

"I'm your sekirei. You winged me," she said as she caught her breath. "That made me stronger."

"C-clearly." Madoka was still staring at the dumpster, trying to guess how much it must weigh. "I-I still don't get what's going on though." All he really knew anymore was that he was once more at risk of being late for work.

"Well... explaining everything would be hard." She shuffled her feet nervously.

"Ugh. I really don't have time for this," Madoka groaned. He really just wanted this to be a dream. He didn't need more stress in his life. This girl was going to be trouble, he just knew it.

"You... don't have time?" Benitsubasa looked insulted. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I have a job. If I don't show up, I get fired. If I get fired I end up living on the street," he explained through gritted teeth. "As much as I'd _love_ to sit you down and have you explain all this... I can't." Benitsubasa didn't respond, but just crossed her arms and looked away from him.

Madoka pinched the bridge of his nose. She'd kissed him, there had been some sort of strange light, and then despite being barely over five feet tall she had lifted an object ten times her size and weight. As absurd as it all was, somehow the evidence added up in her favor.

"Alright, alright. Here." He rooted around in his pocket and pulled out a key. "Just take this and go to my house. I'll talk to you after I finish working..." This got her attention again and she walked over to take the key.

"I... OK, bu-"

"Go down the street, take the second right..." He interrupted her, knowing what she was going to ask. He finished giving directions to his house and then sent her off when he was sure she had it memorized. With that he went back around to the store entrance. It was going to be a long day at work after that.

**. . .**

She must have gotten lost at least three times, but she finally found the place. It was a small, two story condo, though the top floor looked like it had been in a fire and never repaired. Fortunately her destination was the bottom floor which looked fine. She let herself in and decided she wasn't impressed. Then again the only other places she'd ever lived in were hardly a fair comparison. The furnishing was cheap and sparse, but at least it was clean. Her stomach started complaining fiercely as she realized this house probably had food...

**. . .**

Madoka finished his first day of working full time. It was exhausting and boring because he'd find times when there wasn't much to do. He got home and realized with a groan he didn't have his key. He turned the door handle experimentally and found it was unlocked, which almost scared him. It was then that he remembered what had happened that morning. Halfway through his mind-numbingly boring work day his head had just gone blank and he'd forgotten all about it. It also helped that Benitsubasa was currently staring at him. She was lying face up on the floor, head pointed towards the doorway and tilted back to look up at him.

They just stared at each other for a few seconds before Madoka finally shut the door behind him and spoke.

"So, do you want to go sit down somewhere and talk?" he asked.

"Not really." Benitsubasa kept staring at him. It was really unnerving how she just fixated on him and nothing else. "I'm comfortable here."

"OK then." Madoka shrugged. As he walked over to sit down next to her, her gaze followed, never wavering. "Are we still gonna talk?" he asked.

"What do you want to know?" She was right to assume he had questions. It was finally time to get some real answers, he hoped.

"I suppose a good place to start would be... why me?" He looked back at her. He simply couldn't think of why he would be special. Why would this strange girl, this sekirei, choose him out of the millions of people in Japan?

"Because when I was near you I felt that you could be my ashikabi," she replied.

"Only could?" Madoka raised an eyebrow. He wondered if her choice of words had any significance.

"Any ashikabi could have winged me, but I wouldn't have felt like that for just any ashikabi," she clarified.

"So, what? I'm special or something?"

"No... well... yes... to me." She glanced away and started fiddling with a loose strand of hair.

"I... I see." Madoka was caught off guard by her answer and felt himself blush a little. Before they could speak more, he heard his small television in the next room turn on. "Is someone else here?" He glanced in the direction of the television and then back at Benitsubasa.

"No," she replied, sitting up.

"Excuse me. In here please," he heard an unfamiliar voice speak. It seemed to be coming from the TV. Madoka stood up and cautiously walked into the television room. Inside, the TV was indeed on and displaying the image of a flamboyant man with white hair and glasses. "Ah, there you are!"

"You c-" Madoka began.

"See you? Why yes I can, young ashikabi!" The man grinned in amusement.

"Ashikabi... wait... do you have something to do with this?" He pointed at the man on the screen. He turned back towards the entrance of the room just in time to see Benitsubasa walking into the room, only to see the man on the TV and immediately turn around.

"Ah, the cold shoulder!" the man chuckled. "Oh well, it's only important that I speak to you!"

"Good. Maybe _you_ can explain what's going on." Madoka crossed his arms.

"Indeed I can!" the man replied energetically. "You're a lucky man! You've winged a sekirei and thus become a participant in the Sekirei Plan. There are 108 sekirei and they will fight, fight, fight until only one pair remains! That lucky pair will be allowed to ascend! The winning ashikabi will then hold the fate of the world in his hands!"

"OK. Interesting," he said with a blank look on his face.

"Isn't i-"

"You're fucking insane," he said plainly. Fighting? He had enough bullshit in his life dealing with his father. However, if Benitsubasa could lift a dumpster, this fighting must be what her strength was truly meant for. It wasn't a pleasant realization.

"How rude!" the man complained. "Anyway, this is an MBI project and you are now privy to some very sensitive information. You'd best keep it quiet or we at MBI will be forced to respond with all the forces we possess."

"Did... you just say MBI?" Madoka's jaw dropped. MBI, as in the massive pharmaceutical corporation that practically owned the city at this point? What the hell was he getting dragged into?

"Of course! Who else could facilitate such an event?" The man laughed. "Anyway, do take care of our little runaway! Farewell!" With that, the TV turned itself off.

"Well... fuck me." Madoka twitched nervously. This was one hell of a curve ball. He nearly jumped out of his skin when a knock came from his door. "Dammit, what now?" An exasperated groan escaped him and he went to answer the door. His eyes widened when he opened the door and the culprit was revealed to be a large man in a suit with an MBI name tag. "Uhhh..." He wasn't sure what to say.

"You should keep this with you." The MBI employee held out a small cellphone. Madoka was one of maybe three people in all of Tokyo who didn't already have one. If he ever wanted to make or take a call, he was fine doing it from home. He felt like having a cellphone would just be annoying and an unnecessary expense.

"Err... OK?" Madoka took it, confused.

"You will be receiving messages through this from now on," the man said, then turned and left without another word.

"When is this day going to end?" He sighed loudly and pinched the bridge of his nose. His head felt like it was going to explode if one more thing happened. He then turned around and looked at Benitsubasa who seemed to be avoiding his eyes. "And you. Why did he call you a runaway?"

"Because I am," she mumbled, avoiding the question.

"Yeah, I kinda guessed that part. Why?" Madoka scowled in annoyance. On top of all this, now she was going to keep secrets from him?

"It's not important." She was for once avoiding looking into his eyes. Madoka growled in his throat and walked over to her so they were face to face.

"Hey! You just threw a _huge_ wrench into my life! _I'll_ decide what is important!" he yelled. He was quickly running out of what little patience he had left. Benitsubasa didn't seem scared, but she did look surprised and almost hurt that she was being yelled at by him.

**. . .**

"I-I..." She wasn't sure what to say in response. What had she done to make him so mad?

"Whatever. I don't care." Madoka shook his head and backed away.

"D-don't care?" Did he mean he didn't care about her? It felt like a physical blow just thinking about that.

"If you want to keep secrets, fine. But don't think I won't ask again later if I think it's important," he grumbled. He was clearly, and perhaps understandably, in a bad mood. At least he wasn't pressing the matter, but she still felt like things were spiraling out of her grasp.

"I'm sorry..." Benitsubasa said in a small voice. She felt confused and sad. She'd found her ashikabi and had been so happy and excited, but now... did he even like her? She felt like he didn't. She felt like she was only causing him problems and earning his anger. She wanted to yell or hit something... preferably both. Yet all she could do was stand there, head hung and shoulders slack.

"Whatever," was all Madoka said in response to her and she flinched. He then began walking towards his very small kitchen/dining room. A minute later he walked back towards Benitsubasa. "What happened to my food?" he asked.

"I-I was hungry..." Benitsubasa blushed in embarrassment.

"What are you, four feet tall? How much do you need to eat?" Madoka clutched his head, looking completely exhausted at this point.

"I hadn't eaten for a day... and I'd been running a lot... a-and I'm not that short!" She looked away. She was starting to feel sick at this point. She wasn't sure how much longer she'd be able to deal with his disapproval before she did something embarrassing... like cry. She hadn't expected that having an ashikabi would be this horrible. Why was all this anger directed at her? Should she have waited for him to come home before she ate? But another whole day without food, she wasn't sure if she could have handled it. She still felt guilty.

"I'm going to find whatever you didn't inhale." Madoka shook his head. "It's late. You can sleep on the couch."

"OK," Benitsubasa mumbled and found the couch. It was a small, beige, two seat couch. It turned out her small stature might actually be the only reason she'd fit on it. She lay down on it and tucked in her legs. She had a feeling she wouldn't be sleeping well.

After twenty minutes of not even feeling drowsy, she looked up upon hearing Madoka walking over. She flinched when something hit her, but it was only a blanket and a pillow.

"Good night," Madoka spoke in an indifferent tone. Benitsubasa was torn between feeling happy that he'd thought of her and upset over the dismissive manner in which he continued to speak to her.

**. . .**

Her body ached and the blanket she'd been given hadn't kept her that warm. It was better than sleeping in an alleyway, but she found that Madoka's house was fairly cold. She crawled off the couch and arched her back to stretch out her cramped muscles. She looked around at her semi-familiar surroundings. She remembered the events of the previous day and gained a small smile. She had an ashikabi now. She knew that things hadn't been going that well between them, but she was sure she could fix that. Just having an ashikabi was all she needed to be happy!

She had explored the dwelling when waiting for Madoka the previous day so she knew where his bedroom was. She walked over to wait outside it. Some time passed before finally the door opened and he walked out. Benitsubasa immediately stepped forward and wrapped her arm around his waist. He was nice and warm, pressing up against him felt good after sleeping on the chilly couch.

"Good morning." She sighed happily and nuzzled his chest. Madoka looked down at her and groaned.

"Oh, right...you're here..." The way he said was like he'd hoped she was just a bad dream. It hurt. "Good morning," he said and then promptly pried her off of him. He'd said good morning, but suddenly it was a very bad morning for her. "I have a job to get to, remember? Don't distract me." And with that he walked away.

Benitsubasa stared at his back as he walked away, stunned by his cool dismissal of her. Was this how it was to be? Was this really her fated ashikabi? Would he always treat her so coldly... so... cruelly? He hadn't harmed or really insulted her, but, as a sekirei, it felt cruel to be pushed aside.

She wanted to cry.

No, she wouldn't cry. She wouldn't let herself cry. Crying was for pathetic weaklings. She hated weakness; she'd never show any. She wouldn't let her ashikabi see her that way. She already felt unwelcome; she didn't want her ashikabi to think any less of her.

His opinion was all that mattered.

* * *

><p><strong>To those new to Sekirei, don't worry, I'll do my best to make sure the following chapters start explaining things.<strong>

**If you're reading this note, then you're lucky to be reading this after I went back and edited many of the chapters. There were a decent number of embarrassing mistakes (like constantly misspelling Benitsubasa's name...), so I decided to go back and edit and revise. I'll also be smoothing out the occasional continuity error...**

**Til' next time!**


	2. I Hate My Heart

**I Hate My Heart**

She was alone. Benitsubasa realized she'd have to get used to this since Madoka had to work many hours every day. And for a moment she wished she didn't have an ashikabi. The instant after that thought hit her, though, she felt incredibly guilty. Madoka was her ashikabi and that should be enough for her. He might have been... aloof, but he wasn't purposely mean to her, right? She couldn't hold his work against him either.

She was thinking that somehow this must all be her fault. She had done or was doing something wrong. Was it because she'd eaten too much of his food? She'd been a little rude around the time she'd been winged, so perhaps he was upset over that? Maybe he just didn't like her. Did he not find her attractive? Was she too short? Benitsubasa had been fretting over these things all day. As a sekirei, the approval and affection of an ashikabi meant everything, but Madoka gave her neither.

"I should try to surprise him when he gets home..." she mumbled to herself. Her hug earlier that day had been a complete failure though. She'd have to step it up. She'd have to smother her shame and do whatever she could to get his attention.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa was nearly out of her mind with boredom, and yet was anxious, while waiting for Madoka to return home. There was little to do in his small dwelling except fret over whether or not she'd ever get Madoka to show her any kind of affection.

She'd explored the place quite thoroughly during her fretful pacing. The house was small with only one bedroom and a very small, but still full, bathroom. After walking in the front door you were in a hallway that could just fit two people standing side by side with a few inches to spare. The hallway led to a small space about twice as wide and two body lengths long. In that space was the doorway to the one bedroom and a short cabinet that had a phone placed on top.

In the hallway itself were three doorways. The first led to the living room on the left, another to kitchen/dining room on the right, and the last one to the small bathroom, also on the right at the very end of the hallway. The living room was somewhat cramped, barely big enough to contain a couch and an outdated television. Upon entering, the couch faced the left wall, where the television sat, and to the right was another doorway that also led to the space at the end of the hallway.

The kitchen was nothing more than a small table that might fit two people comfortably, perhaps three if necessary, a sink, some counter space, a refrigerator at the far right end, and four cabinets, two under the sink and two on the wall above. The bathroom had a tub, a sink, a mirror/medicine cabinet, and a toilet that may have been white long ago but was now beyond hope of ever being scrubbed back to its former, porcelain glory.

In short the dwelling was poorly decorated and incredibly dull. She supposed a person could _survive _there, but to call it a place to "live" might be a stretch in her opinion.

Finally, after countless self-given tours of the place, she heard the door start to open and moved into position. The first thing Madoka would see upon entering would be her on the floor, propped up on one arm with her top very loose, showing a fair portion of her chest. With her free hand, she tugged a bit more at it.

"It's really hot in here..." She batted her eyelashes at Madoka. Madoka simply stared back, looking utterly unimpressed.

"It's the end of winter you twit," he muttered and then walked past her. Benitsubasa was left sitting there, feeling completely humiliated after doing something so embarrassing without garnering a reward. She quickly fixed her top, blushing fiercely, and then made her way to the couch to sulk. Now she was becoming seriously self-conscious.

**. . .**

It had actually taken Madoka a moment to realize what Benitsubasa had been trying to do. She looked younger than him, so he didn't really think of her in the way he was starting to realize she wanted him to, and thus her attempt to be sexy had failed miserably. She had insisted that she was older than she looked, but he couldn't help what he felt when he looked at her... which wasn't much.

Benitsubasa's intrusion, and that's how he looked at it, into his life was intensely aggravating. Also, the strange man on his TV had mentioned fighting and he wanted no part of that. Going to his parent's house every week already felt like going to war, he didn't need real fighting on top of that. To be quite frank, he wished he'd never met Benitsubasa.

However, he also knew he was stuck with her. He was never one to be outright irresponsible and, if Benitsubasa was literally bound to him, he felt like he had no choice but to deal with her. He just wished he knew what to do with her or how to deal with the Sekirei Plan. He figured maybe Benitsubasa might have some answers, but he wasn't sure he wanted to talk to her yet. He might not have been terribly irresponsible, but he wasn't above avoiding problems once in a while. At the moment he didn't care how backwards that logic was.

**. . .**

"Dammit... be more careful." Madoka sighed in exasperation. Benitsubasa had just dropped a plate. At the very least she didn't hesitate to do most chores he asked her to do, and in fact often volunteered. Usually she volunteered as he was used to doing everything, what little there was, himself. Currently she was helping with dishes.

"I'm sorry," the pink haired sekirei apologized quickly. She got down on her hands and knees to start picking up the shattered pieces.

"That's dangerou-" he began.

"Ow!" Benitsubasa shoved a finger in her mouth, having just cut in on a piece of the plate.

"As I was saying... you might get cut." He sighed again. He sighed a lot lately. Benitsubasa got up and pulled her finger out of her mouth. The moment she did blood began leaking out of the cut. It wasn't deep, but it was still bleeding a lot. "Ugh. Come on." He motioned for her to follow him and carefully walked away from the shattered remains of the plate.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa had to force herself not to smile as he led her to the bathroom and helped her take care of the cut. She'd been doing everything she could think over the last week to get his attention. She felt guilty that dong so usually involved her causing trouble. This current situation was no different. She'd dropped the plate on purpose and had then been purposely careless in the hope she might get cut. It was all paying off now as he wrapped a bandage around her finger. Sadly, this was effectively the closest they had been since her rejected hug well over a week ago.

As he wrapped a bandage around her still bleeding finger she realized his hands were actually fairly soft. Maybe one or two small callouses, but nothing more. It sent warm tingles up her spine as his hands brushed against hers. She realized she was probably blushing a lot at the moment and shifted uncomfortably. It was painful to be so close and so far from him. She wanted to throw herself on top of him, but she was almost certain he'd just yell at her for doing so.

It bothered her that she still got no real affection, but small things here and there reminded her that he seemed to care at least a little. He could have kicked her out or told her to leave, but instead he was taking care of her.

Now if only he'd say more than two or three words at a time to her.

**. . .**

Three days later, Benitsubasa snapped. The silence was maddening. He was gone almost all day, and when he was home he didn't talk to her. A halfhearted good night and good morning was no longer satisfactory.

"What?" Madoka stared at her as she blocked his path upon him getting home from his job. She didn't respond and instead her fist flew out into his stomach. She bit her lip, hating that she'd just hit her own ashikabi, but if she didn't do something she might go completely insane or sink into depression. "Gah... wh-what the... hell?" Madoka doubled over and reached out to place a hand on the wall for support. She'd hit him fairly hard.

"Why won't you talk to me?" she asked loudly.

"Wh-what?" Madoka looked at her, completely bewildered.

"You never talk to me!"

"So you hit me?" Madoka raised his voice as he stood back upright.

"W-well... I was getting des-" She flinched as he interrupted her harshly. This had definitely been a bad idea.

"What the hell is wrong with you? I didn't ask for you to be around, but I've put up with you! Don't you know how to talk to someone?" He glared at her. She flinched at his harsh interruption. This had definitely been a bad idea.

"I'm sorry." She hung her head. It took everything in her not to fall to her knees and break down right there, but she didn't want humiliation piled on top of shame.

"Just... just stay away from me." Madoka shook his head and walked past her.

Well technically her plan had worked. He'd said a fair bit to her. Too bad she was pretty sure he hated her now. That was a fact that cut deeper than any shard of glass.

**. . .**

Madoka sat on his bed. Once the pain had gone away, he'd started thinking. Clearly the silent treatment he'd been giving Benitsubasa was not going well. He didn't know what he should say to her, but clearly avoiding the issue had backfired. He was still angry that she'd hit him, but he couldn't ignore a growing feeling of guilt. He was now pretty sure he was unintentionally torturing her. He didn't want her to suffer, but maybe she was anyway. It was like having a bird in a cage, but only ever taking the time to feed it he figured.

The only problem was he felt like if he spoke to her now he'd be rewarding her for hitting him. He wasn't feeling _that_ guilty. Maybe tomorrow though.

**. . .**

Madoka didn't speak to her for the rest of the day. After his reaction to her poorly thought out act of desperation, she had expected that. She felt terrible. She was beginning to have physical reactions to the mental and emotional anguish she was going through. She felt tired, dizzy, and sick as she woke up the next day. As the day went on, those feelings didn't subside.

The one other thing she was starting to feel more and more was anger. She hated how she felt, she hated how he treated her, and she hated that no matter how cold he was to her all she could think of was "what can I do to make him like me?" She wondered if any other sekirei had this problem.

She couldn't help her total devotion to her ashikabi. She just wished her ashikabi would show her love in return. Being denied that made her feel like she wasn't good enough, and it was what was starting to enrage her as her frustration grew like a hot coal smoldering insider her chest.

**. . .**

Madoka arrived after another day of work. The weekend was finally there again so he wouldn't have to work tomorrow. The last, and first, weekend he'd had with Benitsubasa had been incredibly awkward since they'd basically sat in silence the whole time. 48 hours of awkward silence was, well, awkward.

He was planning to break that silent streak now. It was starting to bother him as well, living with someone and not speaking to her. Now if only he could find her. She was always there when he got home, almost like a dog waiting for its master to come back. The analogy actually made him feel even more guilty. It was hitting him now, literally, thinking back to last night, that he'd gone way too far with how much he'd ignored her.

After two minutes of searching his small dwelling, he realized she wasn't there...

**. . .**

A girl ran through the streets, panting. She had a large bruise on her cheek where she'd been hit hard. It was a fairly recent bruise. She was running from something as shown by the scared look in her eyes. Her running was interrupted when suddenly an arm appeared out of an alley and caught her in the throat. Her feet kept going though and she found herself sprawled on her back, gasping for breath.

She looked up at her aggressor; a pink haired girl who was actually shorter than her and who was now sticking her tongue out at her. 'How rude' was what went through her rattled mind.

"Mitama!" a voice called out. The girl on the ground gasped and then smiled.

**. . .**

"Hmph, and after all that effort to separate you two," Benitsubasa grumbled. She'd felt the need to hit something and, since she didn't want to anger Madoka by destroying his house, she'd gone out and found another sekirei to pummel. She'd tried to drag her away from her ashikabi, but she'd gotten loose and run for it. Now the two were reunited and her victim didn't seem scared anymore.

The girl was about two inches taller than her with short brown hair. She wore a white, sleeveless tunic that went down to just above her knees with blue stockings that went up beneath her tunic, at least up to her mid thigh. She had a cloth belt with decorative metal rings in it at her waist with two strange objects strapped to it.

The girl quickly rolled to the side and got to her feet before quickly getting back to her ashikabi, a plain looking boy with brown hair and eyes who was only slightly taller than his sekirei.

Benitsubasa growled angrily as her prey escaped. If only she'd been a bit faster and stomped on her knee or something – then she would have beaten her, excessively and with perverse glee, on the spot. She got a bit concerned when Mitama reached for the objects at her waist. They were pure white and seemed to have a square handle her hand could fit in with a ball at the end. They seemed to fit on her hands like gauntlets. Apparently, she was a close range weapon user.

"Heh, you used a cheap trick, but now she'll beat you and good!" Mitama's ashikabi grinned. Mitama seemed even more confident as her ashikabi cheered her on. Benitsubasa however felt horribly demoralized, wondering if her ashikabi would do the same for her. She felt like he wouldn't. He didn't even talk to her, why would she expect him to?

And with that her anger surged. Why? Why did this girl who'd run from her have a nice ashikabi? Why wasn't Madoka like that? It wasn't fair!

"That's it... I'm beating you until you're mush!" Her eyes went wide as her anger peaked. She wildly charged at Mitama, but this made it easy for the girl to step to the side and slam her ball-tipped gauntlet into her ribs. She stumbled away, regretting the bad tactic immediately. She jumped back and avoided a second blow from Mitama and then caught a third attack. It hurt her hand, but she was able to pull Mitama off balance and then knee her in the stomach. She followed quickly with an uppercut to Mitama's face that knocked the girl away.

She didn't let up, rushing at Mitama again. She would be the perfect punching bag to let out all of her repressed anger. She was surprised when suddenly the ball on the end of her left gauntlet broke away and shot at her foot. The ball had a chain attached which wrapped around her ankle and pulled her off her feet. Mitama then moved in to slam her other gauntlet into her stomach, but she managed to roll away and then kick Mitama in the shin.

Benitsubasa quickly tugged the chain loose from her ankle and then scrambled away. So much for her perfect punching bag. Mitama winced as she regained her balance, but she was clearly still ready to fight. She took the offensive this time, firing the ball on her left gauntlet again at Benitsubasa. She leaned to the side and grabbed the chain before pulling as hard as she could. Mitama lost her balance and stumbled forward right into a punch from Benitsubasa to her face.

Mitama stumbled back this time, nearly falling, but regaining her balance at the last second. It seemed they were about even in strength, but Mitama's weapons gave her a slight edge, so long as she didn't have them used against her again.

Benitsubasa was caught off guard when Mitama suddenly turned and trotted back to her ashikabi.

"Ashikabi-sama, we can use it and win quickly!" Mitama said in a soft, pleasant voice.

"It?" Her ashikabi looked confused.

"Norito. I told you about it, remember?"

"Oh... right."

Norito? Suddenly Benitsubasa's face lost its color. Her morale plunged further as she watched Mitama kiss her ashikabi and her wings spread behind her in a brilliant glow. It was something she couldn't currently imagine doing with her own ashikabi. No, instead she was alone and facing down an enemy sekirei's norito without even having the option of using her own to protect herself. Suddenly she felt very vulnerable.

"These metal fists enforce my pledge, shatter the barriers before my ashikabi!" Mitama chanted and her expression hardened. She turned to face Benitsubasa and aimed her left fist at her. "Kanazuchi Endan!" The ball on the end shot out like a bullet, faster than Benitsubasa could dodge. It slammed into her stomach, causing her to double over, her knees almost buckling from the agony. Along with all the air in her lungs, her desire to fight back fled. The right one followed up a moment later, the chain behind it wrapping around her left leg and pulled her off her feet before reeling her in. Now, at closer range, the left gauntlet was fired again into her. The norito had increased the force and taking two hits to the stomach now left Benitsubasa's vision blurry as her head spun; and she hadn't even taken a shot to the head. She might be dead if she had.

Mitama pulled both of the steel balls back to her gauntlets, her norito over. It didn't matter that she'd freed her, she could barely move. She didn't _want_ to move. The first hit had been bad enough, but that second hit had been even worse.

The pain wasn't the worst part though, it was the fear and loneliness. Was this it for her? Her first fight and she was about to be removed from the Sekirei Plan? She hadn't even gotten to fight alongside her ashikabi. What had she done wrong, what had she done to deserve this? The fact that she was in this scared, pitiful state was humiliating on top of it all. She felt like a bad sekirei – a reject.

She rolled onto her stomach and started to crawl away, hoping maybe they'd just let her go. She heard Mitama talking happily to her ashikabi, ecstatic over her victory. Maybe they'd forgotten about her.

"Oh, she's still moving? Wait right here, I have to finish her," she heard Mitama say after she'd managed to crawl maybe fifteen or so feet. She tried to move faster, but she felt her hand bump into something. She then felt something grab her arm. She shut her eyes tightly, sure that this was it. Mitama had caught up to her and would now finish her off. She couldn't believe she'd been running away. This was probably for the best; a loser's fate was what she had earned.

She then felt herself hauled to her feet.

"What the hell did you get yourself into?" She looked up to see that it was Madoka. She was stunned speechless. Why was he here? "Whatever, let's just get out of here."

"H-hey! You can't just take her! The fight isn't over!" Mitama's ashikabi complained. Madoka turned back and shot an intense glare at him.

"What the fuck makes you think I care?" he growled dangerously. The other ashikabi actually took a step back, intimidated by the much taller man who was glaring at him.

"N-no! Let me fight. I can win!" Benitsubasa said.

"What?" Madoka looked at her incredulously. "You're hurt!"

"I can do it!" Her face was suddenly filled with confidence.

"Ugh... fine, be stupid. Just don't come crying to me if you get hurt." Madoka shook his head. Benitsubasa nodded and turned to face Mitama again.

Benitsubasa's legs were shaking. Her whole body trembled. She was in pain, no doubt, but she also shook with emotion. Her ashikabi had come for her, protected her! She didn't even care that he still displayed that cold demeanor when speaking to her; his actions said everything she wanted to hear. She was worth _something._

She reached up to her face and wiped some blood that she felt trickling down her lip. A moment later, Mitama resumed the fight. A steel ball flew at her, but she side-stepped it at the last second. The other flew at her a second later, trying to catch her before she could dodge again. Instead of dodging, she reached out with both hands and knocked it back. Her hands ached and stung, but she'd managed to keep it from hitting where it would really hurt her.

Mitama gave up on ranged attacks and then rushed forward. Benitsubasa turned away from one punch, and then blocked another by catching it, though at this point she was wondering how much more punishment her hands could take. She then caught another punch on her other hand and it became a struggle to see who cold push harder.

She was weak from being hit by Mitama's norito, but she managed to hold her ground. She was realizing that Mitama wasn't really a great fighter and she relied heavily on hard hits from her weapon to quickly wear an opponent down. She was ready to take advantage of that fact.

She kicked straight up, managing to slam her foot into Mitama's chin even at little more than arm's length; displaying her skill and flexibility as a pure hand-to-hand fighter. Mitama stumbled back, but Benitsubasa closed the gap between them again, punched her in the gut, and then swung around behind her, putting her in a choke hold while she was reeling from the punch.

Mitama gasped for air as she was choked, but Benitsubasa didn't relent. She clawed feebly, but her gauntlets meant she couldn't actually grab Benitsubasa's arm to even attempt freeing herself. She was then brought down when Benitsubasa kicked her in the back of her right knee. With Mitama on her knees, Benitsubasa ripped the back of her tunic open to reveal a bird shaped sekirei crest at the base of her neck. She placed a finger on the crest and then spoke,

"My fists hold my vow, leave in ruin my ashikabi's foes!" Benitsubasa chanted. Mitama suddenly went limp, falling flat to the ground. She weakly turned to look in her ashikabi's direction, a whimper escaping her lips before her eyes shut.

"Mitama! What did you do?" Mitama's ashikabi exclaimed before rushing towards the fallen sekirei. Benitsubasa took a step back before answering,

"I did what she was going to do to me, terminated her," she replied, crossing her arms.

"Terminated? What does that mean?" Mitama's ashikabi yelled in confusion. Nearby, Madoka shook his head.

"This is just weird," he muttered. "Can we go now? I'm getting a headache."

"In a moment." Benitsubasa looked up at the sky. Madoka raised an eyebrow in confusion, but waited. Almost a minute later he suddenly heard the sound of a helicopter's blades. He too looked up now to see a pair in the distance heading towards them. "OK, now we can go." Benitsubasa said and trotted over to him, leaving the other ashikabi standing over Mitama in shock.

"Are you OK?" Madoka asked her.

"Of course. She wasn't _that_ strong," she replied haughtily. She rationalized her near loss as stemming from the fact that Mitama had used her norito. She refused to believe she'd have ever lost that fight if Mitama had stuck to her normal attacks. She needed every ounce of pride she could scrape up at the moment, though Madoka being there helped immensely in that area.

"Say that again after you look at yourself in a mirror. Come on." Madoka suddenly put his arm around her shoulders and started leading her off. She blushed, but didn't complain at being grabbed like that. Instead she took advantage of the moment and pressed close against him as they walked.

"I'm... glad you came looking for me," she said.

"Well, you've never not been there when I got back from work, so I worried." Madoka shrugged.

"You were worried?" she blushed in surprise. Maybe he cared a _lot_ more than she'd thought. If so though, why had he kept himself at such an emotional distance?

"Don't read too much into it." Madoka sighed and shook his head.

"If you say so." She didn't care if he said that. He said he'd been worried; that's all that mattered at the moment. "But how did you find me anyway?"

"Well, after I realized you were missing I took a look around outside. Once I found a road sign with a fist sized dent in it, I had a fairly good idea of which direction to look in." Madoka rolled his eyes. "I'm starting to think you have some anger issues."

"What? N-no!" she denied it. She didn't want him having more reasons to think badly of her!

"Uhuh. I bet you went looking for that fight because you were upset. Only people with anger issues go looking for a fight." Madoka didn't believe her.

"W-well... I..." She averted her eyes.

"It's fine. I have my moments too. That's why I can see it in you," Madoka explained calmly. He didn't seem bothered by her temper.

"Oh." Her face brightened a little. "That means we have something in common!" She smiled.

"It's... not exactly a good thing," Madoka grumbled. Maybe not, but she hoped this was a hint that maybe she and her ashikabi would soon be able to understand each other on a deeper level. Who knew what else they might share?

**. . .**

Madoka led her back to his place, his arm around her shoulders the entire time. He didn't let go even once they were inside.

"You want to sit down?" he asked her.

"I guess so..." She looked at his hand on her shoulder. "Umm..."

"What?" He glanced at her.

"You can let go now... i-if you want to... I don't mind if you don't." She was simply confused as to why he'd suddenly be in close contact with her for so long when before he barely spoke to her.

"Fine. Well, if you think you can walk. You've been leaning on me pretty heavily in case you haven't noticed," Madoka replied. She blushed and quickly pulled away... and promptly stumbled, nearly falling face first onto the floor. Before she could trip again, Madoka walked over and put his arm around her again. "Come on," he said and led her to his couch. She puffed her cheeks out in annoyance, hating the display of weakness she'd just given, but she grabbed onto his shirt for support as he helped her walk. At least she got to be close to him for a few more seconds. She just wished he'd had her arm around her that whole time with the intent of affection, not just to help her walk.

She sat down as they reached the couch. He almost walked away after that, but she grabbed his hand before he could. He looked back at her, confused, but then sighed and sat down, having figured out what she wanted.

"Why wouldn't you talk to me before?" she asked.

"I didn't know what to say," Madoka responded after a short delay.

"That's it?" Benitsubasa found that difficult to believe. She didn't want to believe it. If she'd been tormented all that time by his silence, she at least wanted him to have a good reason!

"I had no idea what I'm supposed to do with a sekirei. I'm still not sure. I didn't ask for this to happen... I guess I was just trying to avoid the issue." He hung his head.

"It's my fault for forcing it on you," she muttered. Her eyes widened when she felt his hand on her head.

"Hey, you couldn't help how you felt, right? The way I see it, we're stuck with each other. I'll try and understand how you work, alright?" Madoka smiled a little. It was the first time she'd seen him smile and better yet it was directed at her.

"You never saw my wings, did you?" she suddenly changed the subject, turning to look him in the eye. She had a wonderful idea in her head.

**. . .**

"Uhh, no... I guess not." He figured she must have wings of some sort, considering she'd said he'd "winged" her. That said, he had no idea where she'd be hiding them. She didn't mean literally, did she?

"Right, you had your eyes closed." Benitsubasa had apparently noticed. She quickly crawled onto his lap and gently reached up to hold his face before he could answer. "Keep them open this time." Then, before he could react, she leaned in and kissed him. She pulled away a moment later and leaned back a bit before a light began to shine on her back. Madoka's jaw dropped when crimson wings of light spread and hovered in the air behind her. They only lasted a few seconds, but it was long enough to leave him speechless. "Did you see?" Benitsubasa asked, blushing, before laying her head against his chest.

"Y-yeah..." He said quietly after a few more seconds of stunned silence. "Wait... was that just an excuse to kiss me?" He frowned after he calmed down.

"Not _just_ an excuse." Benitsubasa smiled slyly. She pouted when a moment later Madoka pushed her away from his chest.

"I'm not that comfortable with you yet." Madoka scowled in annoyance. He was willing to deal with her, but not if she was going to be constantly trying to kiss him. He was positive some guys would drool over the idea of a sekirei if this was how they behaved, but he just saw her as another girl. A very strange and intrusive girl.

"Y-you didn't like it?" She looked sad and confused.

"Err... well... that's a complicated question." Madoka glanced away. He barely knew her, but to say her kiss had been _un_pleasant wouldn't exactly be true. He simply wasn't sure he wanted to be that level of intimate with her.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa felt better the second he failed to give a straight answer. The red tint that had grown on his cheeks told her all she needed to know. She'd seduce him eventually.

As the sun set later that day, Benitsubasa lay soaking in a hot bath. The warm water soothed her aching muscles. Her hands and stomach felt especially terrible. As time passed, the pain had only seemed to get worse, so it was nice to just lay there and relax. One thing did pop in to her mind to bother her though, something that was more apparent as she lay there naked.

It was a concern that had reared its ugly head more than once now. She slowly ran her hands over her body, and most notably her chest. She thought back to the sekirei she'd terminated a few hours ago. Her ashikabi had clearly cared for her and Mitama had been taller and also... more physically developed in certain areas.

She'd made progress with Madoka, but he almost always made it a point to verbally tell her that he didn't exactly desire a close relationship with her. Should she ask if he was simply not attracted to her? Was her lithe, athletic build working against her?

Suddenly her bath wasn't so enjoyable...

**. . .**

She realized she had a more pressing problem when she finally got out of the bath. Her clothes were dirty and sweaty, and the towel she'd just wrapped around herself was the only thing she had to wear. Normally she'd take care of her laundry while Madoka was at work, but the fight had thrown off her schedule. She wondered if MBI was purposely denying her a spare set of clothing.

She decided she had no choice and, with her face burning bright red, she stepped out with nothing but a towel to protect her decency. She walked slowly, using the wall to keep herself steady as she still felt a little weak. She found Madoka, facing away from her, in his room. He was currently dealing with the sheets on his bed.

"Umm, a-ashikabi-sama?" she spoke.

"Please don't call me that," he replied, not turning to look at her yet.

"Madoka-sama?" she tried again, grimacing and gripping her towel tightly. This was hardly the time to be arguing about suffixes!

"Or that..." He sighed.

"Madoka...kun?" she gave one last, tentative try. She hoped he'd at least accept this one. It was far more familiar.

"Or... whatever, good enough." He shook his head and turned to face her. His eyes instantly widened upon seeing her current state of dress. Benitsubasa felt her blush increase, if that was even possible, and found it impossible to look directly at Madoka. "Wh-why are you-"

"I don't have any other clothes!" she explained rapidly.

"Right... uhh." Madoka quickly walked past her towards his closet. After a moment he returned with a large t-shirt and a pair of cloth shorts that probably wouldn't fit her. "Try this." He handed them to her. He looked confused when she just stood there with them.

"Uh... umm... d-do you want me to change in front of you?" she asked, looking horribly embarrassed. She would if he wanted, but she knew enough to know that would have been out of character for him.

**. . .**

"Oh! Uh, no! Sorry." He quickly exited the room. A few seconds later, Benitsubasa followed him out, not having needed that much time to put on a shirt and pair of shorts. The shirt was slipping part way off one of her shoulders and the shorts sat dangerously low on her hips, though the shirt was long enough to make that a non-issue... so long as they didn't fall down completely. Madoka turned away to hide a blush. All this was combined with her long, damp hair hanging in clumps around her face. The disheveled look was adorable.

**. . .**

"Thank you," Benitsubasa said, adjusting the shirt, but it simply began to slip off her other shoulder instead, leading to her frowning in aggravation.

"Don't worry, I'll wash your clothes before I go to bed," Madoka replied. "Err, speaking of bed. Why don't you actually take my bed. Sleeping on the couch wouldn't be good for you in that state."

"Oh... but what about you?" She wondered if maybe-

"Obviously, _I'll_ take the couch. And before you suggest it, no. The bed is too small even if I wasn't opposed to sharing it," Madoka answered. Benitsubasa wilted slightly at his answer, but nodded. She shouldn't complain when he was being so considerate, but she couldn't help but feel disappointed.

On the bright side, she got to experience him tucking her into bed. That was good enough for the time being.

"Good night, Madoka-kun!" She found saying that felt good. She felt tempted to say his name like that a few more times just for the sake of it.

"Yeah, good night," he replied and shut the light off before leaving. For the first time since leaving MBI, those words had real meaning for her. It _was_ a good night.

* * *

><p><strong>That's better, now they're playing nice!<strong>

**(Fixed up in batch one of my edits.)**

**Til' next time!**


	3. I Hate Pity

**I Hate Pity**

"Damn... damn... damn... DAMMIT!" Benitsubasa crushed the chopsticks she was holding out of sheer frustration. It was ironic that she could do that, but her aching, trembling hands disallowed her the dexterity required to eat. She got up and grabbed another pair and tried again. "Damn...damn...damn..." She swore under her breath every time she slipped or dropped a piece of food.

"Chopsticks are cheap, but if you break too many we'll run out." Madoka sighed. She'd only broken one pair so far, but at the rate she was swearing another broken pair would probably follow shortly.

"Sorry... but... grr!" She glared at the small, wooden objects that were proving to be the bane off her existence. Madoka frowned and moved his chair so he was sitting next to her and then took her chopsticks from her. She blinked in surprise and looked up at him. Was he mad? That wouldn't explain moving his chair though.

"One time only," he told her with an impatient scowl.

"Wh-what?" Benitsubasa blushed, realizing he was offering to feed her. "I can do it myself!" she complained. His only response was a deeper scowl that told her he had no faith in that statement. "Fine." She opened her mouth and shut her eyes in anticipation. After a moment she realized this was actually nice, her ashikabi feeding her. It felt so intimate. So nice in fact that, if he hadn't clearly stated this was a one time thing, she probably would have "accidentally" slammed her hands in a door once they felt better. Well, maybe not, but she would have been tempted.

**. . .**

"You've been doing very well today. How do you feel?" an elderly man in a suit asked.

"Tired... I'm always tired," the girl before him replied. Her most striking feature wasn't her dark, stringy hair or her icy blue eyes, but the fact that she was wearing a straight-jacket. She hated it even more than she hated the old man in front of her. It was confining and her arms ached almost constantly after being in it so long.

"Yes, that is an unfortunate side effect of the pills. If you behave though, you can at least wear something more comfortable."

"Have I done anything wrong?" the girl asked. Of course she hadn't as far as she was concerned, but she wanted to see what false convictions they had to hold against her.

"You almost bit down to the bone you litt-" an orderly standing behind the older man grumbled, but was silenced when the old man raised a hand. Oh, that. She'd almost enjoyed that. Unfortunately, he tasted bad.

"Please, let's all remain calm," the old man said.

"Sorry," the orderly sighed and rubbed the spot on his arm where he'd been bitten.

"He was being ugly," she said, earning a growl from the orderly. Whether or not she understood his anger, he'd still deserved it. The way he looked at her scared her and made her feel dirty. His eyes had an annoying and unsettling ugliness in them when he looked at her. Right now he just looked angry though.

"'Being ugly? An interesting choice of words." It was actually fairly common from her, but she never explained why she did it. They wouldn't understand her. Why should she bother trying to educated the ugly fools?

"You're being ugly too. Everyone here is." She frowned now, losing patience with them. They tried to understand, but they always failed. She had no desired to help them anyway, she just wanted them gone. They weren't sincere in their efforts to learn how her mind worked, and that offended her deeply. They coddled her, but then poked and prodded her mind. And when they didn't like the results they gave her bitter pills and tied her up in the horrible jacket.

"I see." The old man started writing on a pad of paper. It was an interesting choice of words from a man who was so blind. Oh, his eyes worked well enough, but he couldn't "see" her.

"You should go away now." With that she turned to face away from them, instead choosing to look out the only window in the room. The room had a mattress on a padded floor and few other amenities. It was only slightly less depressing than a jail cell, she imagined. The medium-sized, but very thick and nigh unbreakable window was probably the best feature.

"Very well, Avaron-chan. But I'll be back when you're ready to talk," the old man said. He was failing to hide his annoyance at the unproductive session; she could hear it in his voice. It almost made her smile.

She sat alone for a while after they left, simply staring out the window. There was a small field there, and some trees. Unlike the rest of the room, this window provided an opportunity for entertainment, even if it was unreliable. She was surprised when today proved to be a lucky day – a very lucky day. For the first time ever there seemed to be another person on the other side of the window. Somehow this person, a girl with strange colored, light blue hair, was hanging upside down. The girl on the other side of the window spotted her, then smiled widely and waved.

She couldn't help but giggle at the excited face and waved back. She then saw the upside-down girl's lips move, but the glass was too thick and she couldn't hear what was said. Her face must have displayed this, for the girl in the window frowned. The girl then breathed onto the window, creating a fog, and traced something into the fog before it disappeared: 'hi.'

Avaron smiled. She hoped this girl would stay.

**. . .**

It was the weekend, so Madoka didn't have to work. Normally he probably would have watched TV or just slept a lot to pass the time. If he was really bored, he might have taken the opportunity to visit his parents so he wouldn't feel obligated to on a work day. It was hard trying to be the responsible son, especially when his father showed no appreciation of his efforts.

However, it would be awkward to spend another weekend doing nothing now that he had Benitsubasa around... and was no longer ignoring her. He also wasn't in the mood to deal with his parents, and he didn't want to deal with introducing them to his sekirei. Leaving her behind just to get yelled at by his father wasn't appealing either. No, instead he decided he'd have to find something to do with Benitsubasa. Fortunately, he had an idea.

He found his sekirei lounging on the couch, staring at this ceiling.

"Hey," he said, getting her attention. He found it a little strange that simply talking to her would make her happy, but she smiled almost excitedly at hearing his voice. He supposed it must be because he'd ignored her for so long. Guilt, guilt, guilt...

"Yes, Madoka-kun?" She looked over at him.

"Wanna go out with me?" he asked. Benitsubasa immediately sat straight up and smiled widely.

"Really?" she replied, and Madoka's eyes widened as he realized the implications of what he'd just said.

"I-I mean just head outside... for shopping. Not whatever you're thinking." He frowned for emphasis. Benitsubasa looked crestfallen upon hearing that, but soon resumed smiling regardless.

"OK," she said and got to her feet.

"We should buy you some clothes so you don't have to wear my stuff since it's way too big," he explained. "I know a place we can go. I walk everywhere so I know where things are." He didn't need her thinking he remembered where womens clothing stores were because he wanted to.

**. . .**

"Oh... thank you." Benitsubasa blushed, surprised but very happy that he was thinking of her so much now. It seemed that their relationship was rapidly improving. True to his word, he led her to a street that had a few stores on it, most of which were targeted at women, and then into one of them.

"What about this?" Madoka pointed at a rack filled with dresses.

"No way! I don't like dresses! They're too hard to move in." She scrunched up her face.

"Not even to just wear around the house when your other clothes are being washed?" Madoka raised an eyebrow.

"You never know when we'll have to fight," she countered. "Besides, I just plain don't like them."

"Alright, alright!" Madoka raised his hands in surrender.

Benitsubasa continued to look through the store, splitting away from Madoka before long. She wasn't liking what she saw. She didn't want to dress like a boy, but she didn't like skirts or dresses, which seemed to dominate this particular store. If she was going to get in a fight, she didn't want to flash her panties to the world or trip on her own clothing.

Then again, Madoka had suggested a dress to her. Would she look prettier to him in one? Maybe she should just deal with it for that purpose. With that in mind, the first thing she stumbled across was a pink dress that was exceedingly simple. It certainly wouldn't trip her up, but she felt like she'd be uncomfortable doing anything besides walking in this dress; something that would probably hold true for any dress, actually.

Besides being pink, it would go only halfway down her thighs, was sleeveless, and was designed to have vertical wrinkles from neck to hem to break up the shape a little. It was a tad low cut for her liking, but it wasn't that bad and, combined with her underdeveloped chest, she wouldn't be showing anything. In short, it wasn't fancy or indecent and matched her hair, so she decided to grab it.

Blushing slightly, she held it tight to her chest, trying to keep anyone from seeing that she'd taken it and headed off to find Madoka. She found him and decided to just bite the bullet.

"What do you think?" She held up the dress. She blinked when she realized she wasn't the only one who'd spoken. At the exact same instant, Madoka had asked the exact same question. She looked and saw he was holding up an outfit comprised of black shorts, which were only marginally shorter than the tight fitting shorts she wore now, a black, leather belt with silver studs, a white t-shirt, and a black button up vest.

"I thought you didn't want a dress." Madoka looked a little annoyed.

"I thought... umm... well you looked at a dress right at the start." Benitsubasa looked down at the floor, embarrassed.

"You thought I wanted you in a dress." Madoka scowled in realization.

"Well... do you think I'd look prettier in one?" she asked. This was it. She'd finally asked him to comment on her looks.

"Well, this place has dressing rooms if you want to know what you'll look like," he suggested and pointed towards the back of the store. The issue was that didn't answer her question! Well, she could always put on the dress and see what he thought then. OK, good! She could still get her answer! She just wondered if he had purposely avoided the question. Maybe he didn't think she was pretty and was trying not to hurt her feelings.

Madoka showed her to the changing room and she stepped in with the two outfits. She wondered why she was even bothering with the dress anymore now that he'd found her another outfit with shorts. If was a lot different than her current outfit in style, but it wasn't a dress and it didn't look bad.

She decided on the dress first. The one positive thing she could immediately say about the dress was that it was easy to put on. She stripped out of everything but her underwear, slipped the dress on and she was done. She then opened the door of the dressing room and stepped out,

"Umm, how is this?" she asked, face red. The dress was so light and loose; it felt strange.

**. . .**

Madoka was surprised to find that he thought Benitsubasa was cute in the little, pink dress.

"It... looks good on you," he said honestly, hoping that he wasn't blushing as much as she was.

"You like it?" Benitsubasa asked excitedly.

"I guess so." Madoka rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "You want to try on the other one while we're here? Make sure it fits?" he changed the subject, hoping to end the awkward moment.

**. . .**

"OK!" Benitsubasa smiled. Maybe wearing the dress wouldn't be so bad. Well, as long as she didn't get into a fight while wearing it. She headed back in, but before she took off the dress she realized there was a tall mirror in the dressing room. Looking at her reflection, she decided she really didn't look bad in the dress. She also looked at her hair. It was long, going just past her shoulder blades. She felt that she shouldn't have her hair like that. She fought with her hands, and loose hair could be a liability.

For now, though, she put those thoughts aside and changed into the outfit with shorts. It still felt different than her usual outfit, but it also felt more natural to her than the dress did. Going back to the mirror, she decided she liked how she looked in that outfit too. With those clothes on, she stepped back out.

"You look good!" Madoka smiled. The unusual enthusiasm caught Benitsubasa off guard, but she didn't mind, it felt good to hear it directed at her from him. Really, really good. Suddenly her heart was hammering in her chest.

"D-do you like it more than the dress?" she asked, wondering if that had to do with his response.

"It's at least _as_ good on you," Madoka shrugged. Well, that didn't tell her much. She tried to hide her disappointment, telling herself to focus on the compliment.

"Which should I get then?" She'd hoped his answer would help her pick, but it hadn't... at all.

"Why not both? I can afford it. This place isn't that expensive," Madoka answered. "Change back in to your clothes and then we can go pay for this." After she went back and did as he said, she followed him to the cashier. On the way though, she spotted something: hair clips. She _had_ just been thinking about her hair so she made a quick detour for a closer look. She saw pack of two flower shaped clips, but then noticed they cost nearly three times as much as the regular clips, which wasn't that much, but she would still feel guilty. She was starting to regret tossing away the MBI card. Instead she grabbed a 10 pack of light pink clips with red candy stripes. Fortunately, Madoka didn't mind paying for those as well.

**. . .**

It was a day later, and Avaron could see the strange girl better now that she wasn't hanging upside down. She'd indeed come back after the first time. Her light blue hair was short with a yellow bow in it. She wore a large, flowing outfit. It was white with long, flared sleeves that went down to and almost completely obscured her hands. She also had matching hakama style pants. She had a golden obi to complete the outfit. She may have looked strange, but Avaron was glad for the company even if she couldn't hear the girl.

It was frustrating though. They couldn't communicate. She noticed the strange girl's eyes widen, and she suddenly ducked away from the window out of sight. Avaron turned around and saw the old man and the hateful orderly were coming back. She'd been told the old man's name, but she didn't care to remember it. He was always being ugly.

"You seem to be happier than yesterday," the old man commented.

"I _was_," she replied with a frown. How could she stay happy with these _fiends_ around.

"Are you willing to have a proper conversation?" the old man asked, pulling out his pad of paper.

"N-. . . yes," the old man seemed genuinely surprised with her answer.

"Really? What's changed?"

"I don't like this jacket," she scowled, looking down at the constricting garment.

"It's not a punishment, Avaron. You can't get it taken off with good behavior. How can I know you won't become violent if I let you take it off?"

"I don't want to kill you anymore. I want my hands back," she explained. The old man looked confused, but not surprised. She supposed he'd known she might want him dead.

"I ask again. What changed?"

"I want something to write with," she answered truthfully.

"So you can stab me in the eye with a pen?" the orderly scoffed.

"I wasn't talking to you. Stop being ugly," she ordered the man. His suggestion wasn't a bad idea though; she wouldn't mind taking out one of his filthy eyes. She had other priorities though, so he was safe from her for now. The orderly sneered at her, but stayed silent.

"You still talk that way. It makes me worry," the old man resumed their talk.

"I don't like the way you talk either. What makes it better?" she raised an eyebrow, looking almost offended.

"Well, normal peop-"

"I think we've established I'm not normal. The way I talk isn't your problem," she scowled at him.

"Perhaps, but it's a sign that you may still have a dangerous mindset."

"I'm not asking to be let out. I just want to write." She was mentally praying that he would give in. She felt an almost physical need to communicate with the strange girl.

"I'm interested. Alright. I don't think you're a danger to yourself, that was never an issue, so as long as you don't harm us it's fine. I look forward to seeing what you write." That bothered her. She didn't want him to find out about the girl. She'd have to find a way to hide, no, destroy her writing. There were no good hiding places in her room. "Let her out." The old man turned to the orderly, who reluctantly obeyed.

The stiff, cramping jacket was finally taken off. Avaron's arms trembled and felt weak. It hurt to move them, but it also felt amazingly good to feel air go directly to the skin on her arms. After so long in the jacket, the air was refreshingly cool.

"I'll get you some paper and a marker. As my associate suggested, a pen is a bit too risky."

"Be glad he's giving you _that._ You could still shove it in my eye..." the orderly grumbled. He was always being so ugly.

"Fine." She shrugged, an action that used to be uncomfortable. She'd never take even the smallest freedom for granted ever again. As promised, she was soon given a stack of plain, white paper and a black, soft-tip marker. The two then sat and stared at her. "What?"

"Aren't you going to write?" the old man asked.

"Not in front of you," she turned away from them with her writing supplies.

"Very well," the old man sighed and left the room. The orderly followed him, but shot an angry glare back at her. Once they were gone, she turned back to the window and waited. Before too long, the strange girl poked her head back out where she could be seen and, upon seeing the coast was clear, revealed herself fully. Avaron immediately set about shakily writing her first message to her new friend, or at least she hoped they would be friends.

Once she was done, she held up the paper to show the strange girl what she'd written: 'I can talk now.' She was embarrassed at her horrible hand writing. In response, the strange girl smiled brightly and clapped her hands excitedly. She then slowly mouthed 'wait' and ran off. Wait Avaron did, but as an hour passed she got worried.

Her worries were for naught as the strange girl returned with a small notepad and a pen. She quickly scrawled something down and held it up: 'What is your name?'

'Avaron,' she wrote back.

'Masukagami,' was the strange girl's name. 'Why are you in there?'

'They think I am insane.'

'Are you?'

'They are.' Avaron earned a laugh, that she could not hear, with that response.

'Why are they not locked up?'

'They are all stupid.'

'I like you.' She blushed at Masukagami's answer. It was so unexpected. 'I wish I could hear your voice.' Masukagami held the pad up and also pressed her hand against the glass. Avaron didn't write back, simply mimicking the movement so that their hands were both against the glass. It was infuriating to be that close, separated by only two inches of glass. Two inches of nearly indestructible glass. 'Do you want to leave?' Masukagami suddenly pulled away to write that message.

'Yes.' Avaron wrote back after a stunned pause. Could this girl help her? Masukagami dropped the pen and paper and pulled a mirror out of her kimono top. It was very intricate with a golden frame with two knobs, one on the bottom and one on the top. It was about the size of one's face. Masukagami held it by the knobs and aimed it at the glass. She then used her thumb to push on the mirror, causing it to smoothly rotate on its axis... and then Masukagami was gone.

"Avaron!" She heard a sweet voice that was clear like the ringing of a crystal bell. She turned around to see Masukagami now standing behind her.

"H-how?" She was shocked. "Are you magical?"

"I'm a sekirei!" Masukagami chirped. Without warning, Masukagami stepped forward and spun Avaron around so she was facing the window. She then held out the mirror so that Avaron was between Masukagami and the mirror. Masukagami repeated her earlier action and for a moment everything was blurry, and then totally white. A half-second later though, Avaron could smell fresh air. She was outside, facing the horrid building she'd been trapped in for over two years.

"Y-you actually got me out." Avaron was trembling as she turned to look at her savior. This may have be the greatest day of her life.

"Of course!" Masukagami smiled. They both jumped when suddenly they heard a faint bang from the window. They looked away from each other and back at the window. They saw the orderly screaming at them... not that they could hear _what _he was screaming.

"W-we have to go! I-I can't go back in there!" She clung to Masukagami, her voice breaking.

"Then let's go!" Masukagami grabbed her hand and began pulling her away from the building at a run. Avaron did her best to run as well, but she began to feel hot and tired before even a minute had passed.

"Why are we running?" Avaron asked breathlessly.

"My mirror doesn't go more than ten or so feet!" Masukagami wailed, sounding embarrassed.

Avaron had been locked up in a room for two years, and while she was not even remotely overweight - they hadn't fed her enough for that - she was still terribly out of shape. With Masukagami pulling her though, they made it all the way to a small stand of trees about five minutes away from the building.

"I-I can't!" Her entire body was burning with exhaustion and she could feel her blood pounding in her head. Her heart felt like it would explode. Masukagami stopped and looked back at her, frowning before pulling her behind a tree so she could lean against it and hide. "I... I don't... want to go back..." Avaron whimpered in between breaths. She fell to a sitting position and clutched her head, trying not to cry.

"Umm... m-maybe I can get us away from here," Masukagami mumbled, twiddling her fingers nervously. "If you become my ashikabi... maybe..."

"What?" Avaron asked, confused.

"My ashikabi. The person most precious to me. Y-you could be that... and then I could save you," Masukagami explained, though it didn't make much more sense to Avaron.

"I... OK." Avaron nodded.

"Umm, b-but it's permanent. If you do it, you can't change your mind or undo it." Masukagami looked down at the ground. Both them stiffened as they heard voices yelling in the distance.

"I'll be your ashikabi. Just save me... please." Avaron looked up at Masukagami pleadingly.

"I will. I promise." Masukagami knelt before her. Without warning, she leaned in and kissed Avaron on the lips. Avaron was shocked, wondering what the strange girl was doing. That shock turned into awe and wonderment at the sight of crystal-blue wings of light that spread over Masukagami's back. "My Ashikabi-sama." Masukagami looked at Avaron with fondness as the wings faded away.

"Y-you... you're perfect!" Avaron suddenly flung herself at Masukagami. She was so beautiful, so mysterious, and she'd saved her.

"You are too! The moment I heard your voice, no, the moment I saw you I knew you were special!" Masukagami hugged her back. The yelling was getting close though, and she pulled away. "Let me get you out of here. Umm... w-will you kiss me again?"

"I... umm..." Avaron didn't understand why, but at this point asking questions seemed silly. This girl, this sekirei, was beyond her comprehension. She decided to do as she asked, and leaned towards her as Masukagami did the same. Their lips met once more, and the shining wings appeared again.

Masukagami stood up and pulled Avaron up with her, holding her close to her chest. She then pulled out her mirror again and aimed it far into the distance. "My mirror reveals my pledge, reflect the dreams of my ashikabi!" She then spun the mirror, but unlike before it kept spinning faster and faster until it was a golden blur – and then they were gone.

**. . .**

Being a sekirei had its advantages. Benitsubasa had taken blows that should crush bones, but she was only feeling stiff with slight twinges of pain only two days later. She'd even pushed into a force that could crack bones with both hands, but her hands and wrists were completely intact, though her dexterity was still suffering. This was apparent as she tried in vain to pull off a new hairstyle with the hair clips she'd bought. The more she tried, the shakier her hands would get. Sure she could probably do something simple if she tried hard enough, but she was stubborn and wanted something different.

"Are you OK? You've been in there a while," she heard Madoka say from outside the bathroom.

"I'm fine!" She replied a bit too loudly. She frowned when she realized there had been a noticeable whine in her voice.

"How long are you going to be? I'm about to start making food," Madoka responded.

"Until I'm done! This isn't easy!" She shouted in annoyance. For once, she wished he'd leave her alone.

"Doing your hair?"

"Yes... is that a problem?" She turned towards the door.

"Want help?"

**. . .**

Madoka wondered if he'd made her mad, or more so, by asking her if she wanted help. She wasn't responding. He was surprised to see the door open and Benitsubasa's head poke out.

"Err... can you?" she asked, blushing and not meeting his eyes.

"Under one condition," he responded.

"Wh-what?" Benitsubasa looked up at him, confused.

"Don't ask any questions," he told her.

"Huh?" She blinked.

"Agreed?" He looked at her a bit more sternly.

"Umm, OK." Benitsubasa still looked puzzled but let him into the bathroom with her.

"Fortunately, you're short-"

"Hey!"

"- so I won't need you to sit down." he finished his sentence, grabbed her shoulders and turned her so she was facing the wall mirror. "Don't have anything in here for that anyway."

"Oh." She still sounded a little miffed.

"Now you're lucky I have slightly long hair too." He went on and reached into a drawer, pulling out two elastic bands. "And a mother who packed way too much stuff for me when I moved out." He sighed to himself.

"Hm?" Benitsubasa turned to look back at him, but he grabbed the top of her head and forced her to look back at the mirror.

"Sit still. Anything in particular you want me to do?" he asked.

"Just keep it out of my face," she replied. The moment she said that he got to work.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa was surprised at how quickly he worked. Her head was jerked one way or the other as her hair was pulled and twisted into shape. More than once she'd winced. He started by giving her a simple ponytail, which disappointed her, but apparently he wasn't done. He separated it into two sections and started twisting them together, but left a few inches at the end untouched. He then twisted the now braided ponytail back up onto itself and used the second elastic band to secure the end of the ponytail to the base, with the two or so inches of loose hair hanging free.

"Normally I'd probably do something to make this stick up, but I'm not really prepared for anything fancy," Madoka said and swatted at the hair left hanging free. "What do you think?"

"H-how did you kno-"

"What did I say?" Madoka frowned, which she saw from the mirror.

"No questions." she sighed.

"Exactly."

"Can you try something different?" she asked and then pouted slightly, looking down at her unused hair clips.

"Sure." He shrugged and undid her hair.

**. . .**

"No, put it to the side... you can leave my bangs free, that looks better... it's perfect!" Over an hour later, they'd found a look she liked. Sure, initially she'd hated that he had to do it for her, but she couldn't complain about the result. It wasn't as complicated as his first try, but that was probably for the best, and she liked it.

"Finally, my hands probably hurt worse than yours do now." Madoka chuckled. She was having fun at this point, and even better Madoka seemed to be as well. The style she had decided on had her hair pulled to the side and into a ponytail with her bangs left free, but also swept to the side. It allowed her to use two of her hair clips to hold it in place.

"You're good at this." She smiled back at him.

"Yeah, yeah, just don't tell anyone." Madoka sighed and looked away.

"Why won't you tell me how you can do all this?" she asked him. "Don't you trust me? I'm your sekirei!"

"Well I'm your ashikabi and you're keeping secrets from me," Madoka countered and shrugged.

"I-I..." she stuttered but then looked away from him, unwilling to speak, but also feeling ashamed. "Sorry." She suddenly had an idea, and turned around, lips puckered and leaned towards his face. When nothing happened, she opened her eyes to see he was gone and she was attempting to kiss the air. "Dammit." She scowled, her plans foiled. However, when she looked back at the mirror and saw her hair again, she couldn't help but smile.

* * *

><p><strong>Did I focus way too much on clothes shopping and Benitsubasa's hair? Probably. Did I introduce a pair of new OCs who will be important to the plot? Hell yeah I did! And yes, that is her canon hairstyle. I don't hate it, and it'll be easier for you guys to picture her.<strong>

**Th-they're so cute! Avaron calling her perfect and then... oh gods I'm getting cavities! So sweet!  
><strong>**(Fixed up in batch one of my edits.)**

**Til' next time!**


	4. I Hate Cowards

**I Hate Cowards**

Benitsubasa wasn't happy. Madoka was working again now that the weekend was over, and so she was once again lonely. Thinking about it, though, she actually knew where he worked. Thinking about it more, she wondered if she shouldn't show up and surprise him. It only took her seconds to decide that that was an excellent idea. She checked her appearance in the bathroom mirror, wanting to look good for her ashikabi, and then headed out. She wondered what he'd think of her arriving unexpectedly.

**. . .**

"I'm cold," Avaron whimpered. They'd had to sleep outside in an empty park. Winter hadn't ended long ago and a freak snowfall wasn't yet out of the question, though they'd mercifully been spared that. Masukagami had held her all night long. With her large kimono top's long, flowing sleeves, it had almost been like being wrapped in a blanket. However, she knew they couldn't keep doing that.

"I'm sorry." Masukagami did her best to pull her closer. Avaron was content for just a moment to be cuddled up against her chest where it was warm.

In the end though, it couldn't last. "We should go... we can't stay here." Avaron reluctantly pulled away.

"Oh, umm... I know! Here!" Masukagami began stripping out of her Kimono top, clearly intending to let Avaron wear it. The only issue was that she had nothing on beneath that besides a bra. It turned out that the large garment concealed just how well developed Masukagami was. Avaron now knew why Masukagami's chest was such a comfortable pillow. She was at least a large C-cup, if not bigger.

That was not information the rest of the world needed.

"No! You can't go around topless!" Avaron protested and grabbed Masukagami's top to pull it back in place and stop the sekirei from stripping.

"But you're cold," Masukagami pouted in concern for her ashikabi.

"Thank you, but we'll attract too much attention if you're topless." Avaron laughed. "A lot of attention," she teased. Masukagami blushed as she fixed her outfit.

"You think so?" the sekirei asked.

"Of course!" Avaron smiled. "You're beautiful!" Masukagami looked incredibly happy to hear that and suddenly wrapped her arms around Avaron.

"Maybe this will keep you warm!" she said and kissed Avaron. Avaron's cheeks flushed. While she did indeed feel a bit warmer, she almost protested, but was silenced by the sight of Masukagami's wings spreading over her back. The glowing formation made her completely forget about the violation of her personal space.

"Uh... umm," she stuttered, mentally unbalanced from the kiss and following spectacle.

"So, what should we do? We can't live outside, can we?" Masukagami asked once her body had calmed.

"Oh. I... I don't know. I was locked up for so long... I-I don't know," Avaron started shaking not from cold, but from rapidly growing panic. She was like a bird, caged for years and suddenly set free. Except birds didn't have to deal with the rules of human society.

"We could get a house!" Masukagami suggested, sounding excited by the idea.

"I have no money... and I just escaped an asylum." Avaron shook her head in despair. She was lost. There were only two places she could think to go, but both options would come to the same conclusion. She refused to go back to the asylum, and going home would only amount to a stop along the way to the same place. That left her with... nothing.

"I'll take care of it! Let's go find one you like!" The jovial sekirei grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet.

**. . .**

"No way! It's too big and expensive." Avaron shook her head as she looked at a two story house that Masukagami had found that was for sale. She'd love to live there, though with just the two of them the house might feel a little empty, but how could they afford to buy it, never mind furnish it?

"Don't worry!" Masukagami patted her on the shoulder. "It's perfect, isn't it? A lovely place for my lovely ashikabi-sama!" the sekirei practically swooned.

Avaron was confounded by the following series of events. She'd decided to let Masukagami handle things since the sekirei seemed so confident. They got a meeting with the man in charge of selling the house, though he kept shooting uncertain glances at Avaron who was still wearing her gray fatigues from the asylum... and no shoes. She was almost as conspicuous as her sekirei.

During their meeting, a phone rang. The man they were meeting excused himself to answer it. What proceeded was a long conversation during which the man grew increasingly flustered. Finally he hung up and walked over to them. When asked, Masukagami produced a black credit card. The man walked off once more with it in hand.

A short while later, sweating bullets and looking extremely out of sorts, he returned with paperwork for them to fill out. It took a few hours, but it still felt like the whole situation flew by. In the end, all that Avaron really understood was that she now had a house.

**. . .**

The furnishing the building came with was sparse, but the house was structurally sound with no major, or even minor, issues to speak of aside from a few inconsistencies in the paint here and there.

"It's all ours!" Masukagami spun around in an empty room, her flowing outfit swirling around her. She almost hit a wall.

"I... I... how?" Avaron was still in a state of shock. She didn't see how it was possible.

"MBI!" Masukagami stopped moving and faced Avaron, though she was still smiling. "I'm sure it was them on the other side of the phone! They're looking out for us! I got that card from them too!"

"MBI? Why does that sound familiar?" Avaron titled her head in thought, trying to think of where she'd heard the name before.

"MBI is a big company!" Masukagami said looking to be in awe. "They own the huge building in the middle of Tokyo!"

"Oh." Avaron nodded, that sounded familiar. Before she'd been taken away to the asylum, she'd indeed seen the huge MBI skyscraper, though after over two years it was only a fuzzy memory.

"Hmm, we'll need furniture and clothes for you!" Masukagami explained. "What should we do first?"

"I... uhhh..." Avaron felt like her head was spinning from all the recent events. She was having difficulty focusing.

"I think clothes! Pretty, pretty clothes for you! That outfit doesn't do you justice!" Masukagami decided for her, energy still pouring out of her like an endless spring. "I bet you don't want to wear it any longer, right?"

"O-OK, yes," Avaron agreed, deciding it would be easier to just follow her sekirei's lead for now. She was sure she'd feel better soon, once she'd had time to calm down.

**. . .**

Masukagami held in a content sigh as Avaron stepped out of a dressing room wearing a tight shirt that clung to her every curve. It was both low cut up top, but high cut down low showing off her chest and her waist. It was white with blue sleeves that went just past her elbows. This was coupled with tight jeans.

"A-are you sure? This feels strange. I don't think the shirt fits..." Avaron pouted and tugged on the shirt to try and cover her waist more, though it had the opposite effect on her chest and little of the intended effect on her waist.

"N-no, no, it fits on you perfectly," Masukagami blushed and licked her lips. Though to be honest she'd picked an outfit that looked a size too small. In her mind it only enhanced the look.

"But..." Avaron looked uncomfortable in it. Masukagami frowned and felt a little guilty. She didn't want to upset her ashikabi.

"You're right, it's not pretty enough for you..."

**. . .**

"Is this really prettier?" Avaron asked, still looking uncertain. Masukagami was still suggesting outfits. She was now in a halter top, even more low cut than the last shirt. However this one was not so dangerously curve hugging nor did it show her waist. On the other hand she was also wearing a skirt with it. It was a skirt that barely made it half way down her thighs. The top was lime green and made of a material that shimmered when the light hit it, and the skirt was pleated and pure white. It seemed like the smallest gust of wind or even simply bending over a little would compromise her dignity.

"Much prettier!" Masukagami laughed. One might say she had a hungry look on her face.

"But..."

**. . .**

"This isn't what I had in mind when I asked you to get me a dress," Avaron hung her head as she stepped out of the changing room. She'd lost track of how many times she'd walked out of the little room with a burning red blush. "I'm starting to think you're doing this on purpose."

"You look ravi-... amazing!" Masukagami flung herself at Avaron in a hug. One of her hands ended up resting _dangerously_ low on her back. She could feel the hand quite easily since the dress had an open back. And a low cut front. And only went a quarter of the way down her thighs. It was also black and fairly close fitting.

"Y-you've said that about almost every outfit."

"You look good in everything because you're perfect!" Masukagami leaned in to kiss her, but Avaron put her hand in the way.

"Umm, d-don't you think that your wings might be noticed?" Avaron mumbled, looking annoyed, but too embarrassed to speak up any louder.

"Oh, right," the mirror sekirei backed away with a blush on her face.

"Wait here. I'm going to change and pick out my own clothes." Avaron stepped back into the changing room and shut the curtain.

**. . .**

"It's pretty!" Masukagami smiled. She didn't seem as excited as with the more... shameful clothing, but she clearly approved. Along with some other more boring, but also more decent, clothes, Avaron had gotten herself a light blue dress with white flower petal patterning – or white with blue flower petal patterning, however one chose to look at it. It was _not_ low cut and it went past her knees with short sleeves. She enjoyed how much less constricting it felt compared to the straight-jacket.

"I guess our tastes are... different," Avaron said and she looked down at the dress she was wearing. She had suspicions as to why Masukagami had picked so many tight or revealing outfits, but she didn't feel like voicing those concerns right now. She wanted to put those awkward feelings behind her. Her head felt like it was buzzing.

"Y-yeah... of course..."

**. . .**

She'd been there twice, though both times had been complete accidents so it took Benitsubasa some time to find her way to Madoka's place of employment. It was a good thing she'd left a bit early, because the extra time she'd spent getting lost could have ruined her plans. As it was she'd stealthily peeked inside to ensure Madoka was still there and was now waiting outside for him. She wondered how he'd react to seeing her. About ten minutes later she got to find out.

"Madoka-kun!" She flung herself at him and wrapped her arms around his waist. She pouted when her arms were pried off.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, still holding her wrists at bay. She knew she could overpower him with nearly no effort, but refrained. She didn't want to have to wrestle him for a hug, it would feel wrong.

"I missed you..." she mumbled and looked away. She felt better when he let go of her wrists and patted her on the head.

"All right, all right." Madoka sighed and smiled a little. "Hey, wait here," he said and walked back into the store. When he came back, he threw something at Benitsubasa that she caught with a little fumbling, not having expected it. It was a candy bar. She almost didn't want to eat it because it was the first gift given to her from Madoka. "Come on, let's go." With that Madoka began leading the way home.

**. . .**

They made it only a short way before the unexpected once again thrust its way into Madoka's life. He felt himself shoved aside by Benitsubasa moment's before a strangely shaped spear-head flashed by. He and Benitsubasa then both turned to see another pair behind them. One was a boy with glasses of around Madoka's age, and the other was a girl who was wielding the offending spear. She had long, light-brown hair and a white, tight-fitting dress with a gap to show off her rather well-developed breasts.

"Oh, great. Another sekirei." He scowled. He was not interested in another fight so soon after the last. It didn't help that he knew only one sekirei would walk away. Maybe he wasn't as close to Benitsubasa as the girl would like, but he would still be upset if she was, what was the word, terminated?

"Hm, you're lucky to have such an observant sekirei. Oh well, we crushed the last two, you'll be no different. You know what to do, Nanami," the ashikabi said.

"Who do you think you're going to crush?" Benitsubasa bared her teeth aggressively.

"It's true. I've won all my other fights by a fair margin," Nanami said. She didn't sound like she was boasting, but simply stating a fact or perhaps giving Benitsubasa fair warning. She didn't appear to share the arrogance of her ashikabi.

"Too bad you won't make it to three victories." Benitsubasa stuck out her tongue after she spoke. Madoka really didn't understand that habit of hers.

"Enough talk. Nanami, take care of her!" The other ashikabi ordered. Nanami obeyed and lunged with her spear, aiming straight for Benitsubasa's heart. Benitsubasa strafed around it and then tried to move in close where the spear couldn't be swung or thrust at her. However, Nanami pulled her weapon back quickly and slashed it at her, forcing the pink haired sekirei back to where she'd started. Nanami then advanced and used shorter, faster jabs to keep Benitsubasa retreating and on the defensive.

Madoka hadn't seen much of Benitsubasa's first fight. He'd gotten to skip the part where Benitsubasa got hurt. After he'd arrived and hauled her to her feet she'd made short work of her opponent. He was actually gritting his teeth watching Benitsubasa have to dodge stab after deadly stab.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa knew she couldn't keep this up forever. It would be just her luck that she'd trip or stumble and be skewered. Instead, the next time the spear was thrust at her she pulled her stomach back away from the blade but also thrust her palm out and slammed the flat side of the spear-blade and knocked it down towards the ground. She then stomped down on it to pin it. While Nanami tried to pull it back Benitsubasa quickly moved to grab the pole right beneath the blade and began a tug of war.

It soon became, almost comically, apparent that the short, athletically figured Benitsubasa was noticeably stronger than Nanami. The spear sekirei's arms were fully extended, trying valiantly but in vain to pull her weapon back.

Benitsubasa let her have it.

The smaller sekirei pushed the spear back at Nanami, slamming the butt of it into Nanami's stomach. The spear sekirei doubled over and lost her grip on the weapon, losing it to Benitsubasa. The butt of the spear was next slammed up into Nanami's jaw, causing her teeth to audibly click together. Next it was brought across her face, knocking the girl off balance. Benitsubasa took the brief moment while Nanami was stunned to set her feet and then ram the butt of the spear back into Nanami's gut and then lift the other sekirei off her feet and toss her back behind herself.

Benitsubasa turned to face her downed opponent. She was wondering how this girl had defeated two other sekirei. She took the captured spear and stabbed down at Nanami, but the girl rolled away and quickly got back to her feet, displaying the increased endurance of a sekirei. However, it was now Nanami who was on the defensive, running from her own spear.

The only problem was that Benitsubasa couldn't get the spear near Nanami. A spear didn't seem like a complicated weapon, but Nanami must have known it inside and out. She was predicting Benitsubasa's every move. She didn't want to drop the spear though, lest Nanami reclaim it.

Nanami dodged around her next stab and moved in. Benitsubasa copied what Nanami had done in that same situation, pulled back the spear and swiped with it. This turned out to be the exact wrong thing to do. Nanami flipped backwards over the spear, landed, and moved in. She grabbed the spear and pushed it into Benitsubasa. Benitsubasa pushed back, but was kicked in the stomach and then Nanami took one hand away from the spear to punch Benitsubasa in the face. With Benitsubasa stunned and unbalanced, Nanami was able to wrench the spear back into her grasp.

Benitsubasa regained her wits just in time to see that she was now on the receiving end of the spear again and backpedaled, but not fast enough. Nanami swiped at her, cutting her across the cheek, and then across her stomach on the back swing.

She clutched at her shallow wound to her stomach and glared at Nanami. She'd cut her face! Her face! The part of her Madoka would see the most! She didn't care about her stomach, cutting her face was an offense she'd punish with a painful death!

"That's it, bitch! I'm ripping you in half!" Benitsubasa snarled. She was done playing it safe, it wasn't her style. It was time to be aggressive. She charged right at Nanami and deftly twisted around and past a jab from the spear. Nanami didn't have time to defend this time, Benitsubasa was already in range. Eyes wild with killing intent, Benitsubasa rammed her fist into Nanami's gut. The impact was oh-so-satisfying.

With Nanami doubled over in pain, Benitsubasa slammed her hand onto the back of Nanami's hips, forcing her upright again. Benitsubasa then twisted and swung her other arm as hard as she could, slamming it across Nanami's throat. The spear-girl was nearly inverted in mid air as she was scissored between Benitsubasa's arms, and gagged horribly from the blow to the throat.

Benitsubasa's eyes fell upon her fallen opponent's spear. She had an idea Nanami was going to hate for the ten seconds she had left. Benitsubasa was ready to end this. She grabbed the spear just beneath the head. Nanami weakly tried to pull it away, but Benitsubasa just stomped down and snapped the spear-head off.

Nanami tried to roll away, but Benitsubasa pounced on her, pinning Nanami face-down. She took the spear-head she'd stolen and then began to cut open the back of Nanami's dress, not caring that she was not just cutting into cloth, but flesh. Nanami cried out in pain, but Benitsubasa didn't care. She'd revealed Nanami's sekirei crest.

When Benitsubasa put a finger on the seal Nanami gasped. Out of pain or fear of her impending termination didn't matter to Benitsubasa in the least. She'd won.

"My fists hold my vow, leave in ruin my ashikabi's foes!" She recited and watched as Nanami's seal faded away. Game over. Now _she_ could claim to have beaten two sekirei.

"No! No way! What the hell?" Nanami's ashikabi stared in shock as she lost. Benitsubasa smirked and looked over at him.

"What's wrong? Weren't you supposed to crush me?" She had her tongue stuck out again. She was feeling pretty good at the moment. Aside from a few cuts, she'd effectively dominated the fight.

"H-h-how! Nanami! Th-"

"Shut up, jackass!" Madoka growled with a look of contempt on his face. The other ashikabi actually shrunk in fear. For all his posturing, he clearly wasn't anyone impressive... or brave.

Once again Benitsubasa waited, somewhat impatiently, until helicopters could be heard approaching. She then limped over to Madoka, clutching her wounded stomach. "Are you OK?" he asked her.

**. . .**

"I'll be fine Madoka-kun," Benitsubasa answered him with even a small smile. He frowned in worry though. Even as she clutched the stomach wound, blood was slowly trickling out through her fingers.

"Yeah... but I see blood," he shook his head. His stomach churned a little at the sight. He'd been in a few scuffles, tossed out a few shop-lifters, but never had more than a few bruises and a bloody lip been involved.

"Oh." Benitsubasa looked down at her blood covered hand. "Err, it'll probably stop soon."

"Right. _Probably. _That's not comforting," he replied and pursed his lips in thought. He wasn't sure how to deal with this. The cut was seemed shallow and wouldn't need stitches, in his uneducated opinion, but it was long and he wasn't sure how to bandage it. "Let's just head home, I'll try to patch you up."

**. . .**

Benitsubasa felt strange as he led her back. No, she wasn't light headed form blood loss. As she'd predicted the blood flow had slowed greatly before they even made it back. The biggest issue they'd had was avoiding witnesses. Fortunately it was late and very few people were out walking the streets, especially as they got farther from the city's center.

No, the reason she felt strange only became more pressing as they arrived and went inside. If he was going to "patch her up," wouldn't she have to take her top off in front of him? Somehow the towel incident didn't seem so embarrassing anymore.

"OK, go into the bathroom and wash it off gently," Madoka told her and headed to his room.

"Wh-what? I thought you were going to help me!" she whined pitifully and immediately began sulking. Embarrassment be damned, she still wanted him to touch her! She blushed a little at her own thoughts. Her feelings were such a jumbled up mess.

"I'll be there in a minute. Now go before it gets infected or the blood gets too dry," he ordered her more forcefully.

"O-oh, OK," she replied a little timidly and hurried off to the bathroom. She took off her now ruined top and looked down at the wound. It was scary to look at, even if it was very shallow. It stretched almost all the way across her from side-to-side, and there was a lot of blood dried around it making it look worse than it actually was.

She hissed and grit her teeth as she started washing it. It stung like a dozen bee stings on every inch of cut flesh. However, she toughed it out and it was soon clean, though the washing had started it bleeding again, but only a little and it soon stopped again.

She didn't have time to admire her work, not that she felt like staring at her wound, for seemingly right as she finished the door cracked open and Madoka's hand stuck through with a large t-shirt in his grasp.

"Put this on," he said from the other side of the door. Benitsubasa obeyed, and once it was on he entered the room with her. Had he decided that since it had stopped bleeding to not bother with it?

"What's the shirt for?" she asked the obvious question.

"To protect your dignity. Pull it up until the wound is visible and then tie it in a knot," Madoka told her and made motions with his hands to help clarify what he expected her to do. She complied, but the shirt was so big it looked ridiculous when she finished.

She wasn't sure how she felt. On one hand she felt more calm, knowing she wouldn't be standing there with only a bra to cover her top, but at the same time part of her had been hoping to let him "look at her." Then again, she wondered if he'd even bat an eyelash. Did she even have anything for him to look at?

Those thoughts were cut off when she had to bite her lip to keep from groaning loudly in pain. He'd put something on her cut that stung a million times worse than the water.

"Not sure what to do now," he told her when he was done with the stinging liquid. "I could either use every bandage I have, though I don't think that wouldn't work well, or try wrapping something around you, but I'm not sure what I have."

In the end, she'd had to wait while he ran out to get better medical supplies. She felt guilty because he'd bought a lot, figuring she might get hurt again. She knew he didn't have that much money. She was _really_ starting to wish she'd just swallowed her pride and kept the MBI card.

Guilt aside, she got to experience him wrapping long, white bandages around her. She got to feel his fingertips brushing against her exposed midsection. She knew she had to be blushing fiercely. She shivered every so often at his touch, which was surprisingly delicate. When he finished she was tempted to grab him and hold onto him, not ready for him to leave her. It wasn't that he'd go far, and she could always follow him around like a puppy, but she wanted to be closer. _Much_ closer.

In the end she didn't even try for it. For all her desires, she could still sense the emotional barrier Madoka was keeping up.

**. . .**

"We got ambushed last time. I'm starting to think you bring bad luck," Madoka said, but ruffled Benitsubasa's hair a little. That seemed to be the one way he seemed to be comfortable displaying whatever affection he had for her.

She was wearing the vest, shirt, and shorts he'd gotten her. A box from MBI had arrived replacing her ruined clothes, but she'd already changed into her new outfit.

Currently they were walking back to Madoka's place after she had arrived to see him after work again. She smiled when he touched her hair, though she frowned a moment later. The two bandages Madoka had put on the cut on her face made certain facial expressions uncomfortable.

"You don't really think that, do you?" she asked, though fairly certain he was joking.

"No, but you _are_ a pain in the ass!" he chuckled and nudged her playfully.

"I'm sorry!" she whined, but giggled, knowing not to take it seriously. She did feel a pang of guilt, though. There was a reason he'd said that.

They were about half way back this time when Madoka's statement of her being bad luck gained some credence. She never even saw the girl who plowed into her like a freight train at full speed. She found herself flat on her back, and groaning since her stomach injury had been hit, not to mention the pain of being rammed off her feet.

She found herself under a girl with bright, light-blue hair. She felt smothered because the girl's flowing kimono top practically enveloped her completely. How had she not seen this girl coming?

"Gu- what the hell?" Benitsubasa said in a strained voice as she pushed the girl off of her.

"I-I'm so, so sorry!" The blue haired girl said as she did her best to get off. She was unbalanced though as Benitsubasa was still tangled in her clothes.

**. . .**

What happened next caught Madoka off guard. Everything seemed fine, but then the girl who'd barged into them suddenly swung a back-fist at Benitsubasa. Benitsubasa didn't seem surprised and blocked it easily. The blue girl jumped back, apparently not comfortable with close range fighting.

"I felt you pull on my top. You saw my crest, didn't you?" the blue girl frowned.

"Running around in such a ridiculous outfit, I had a guess," Benitsubasa replied, once again sticking her tongue out. Madoka didn't get it – it seemed like a silly habit.

"R-ridiculous? That's mean!" the blue girl whined. Whiny maybe, but she was fast enough on her feet to avoid a roundhouse kick aimed for her head. What happened next confused Madoka. The girl caught a punch from Benitsubasa's a moment later and Benitsubasa winced in pain and her fist was knocked back.

They were about to clash again, but a voice called out, loudly, and everyone froze.

"Masukagami! Stop! What are you doing?" It was a female voice and fairly shrill at the volume she was speaking. "What kind of ugly mess are you in?" With the immediate shock over, Madoka saw Benitsubasa twitch, ready to fight more.

"STOP!" he roared, causing everyone to flinch. The blue girl, Masukagami, even ducked in fear.

"Wh-what? She attacked us first!" Benitsubasa turned back, her face projecting angry disapproval at his order.

"Are you going to disobey your ashikabi? If she attacks again, destroy her to your heart's content, but if her ashikabi is stopping her, then I have no problem avoiding a fight," he explained his feelings on the matter quite firmly and Benitsubasa was cowed into obedience.

"You're too loud," the female, who must have been Masukagami's ashikabi, walked over. She had long, dark hair and startling eyes along with a blue and white dress. "Such an ugly voice." She was holding her hands over her ears.

"Right. Thanks." Madoka frowned and rolled his eyes. Meanwhile, the girl had gone over to Masukagami and swatted at her head mercilessly.

"What were you doing?" the girl demanded an answer.

"I-I was fighting another sekirei, Avaron-sama! It's what we do!" Masukagami whimpered pathetically and pouted with tears in her eyes.

"That's ugly! Don't do it!" Avaron glared intensely at the cowering sekirei.

"But... I have to... y-you heard what he said on the phone last night!"

"The coward is right, sekirei are _supposed_ to fight," Benitsubasa concurred, though she was looking at Madoka as she said it.

"Coward?" Masukagami whined loudly.

"Calm down," Madoka said to Benitsubasa before turning to look at Avaron. "So, how do you want to handle this? It seems you don't want to fight, which I'm perfectly fine with." Avaron didn't answer him right away, instead slowly walking over to him. She looked him over curiously. To be perfectly honest, the experience was rather unsettling.

"Sekirei really do have to fight, don't they?" Avaron asked him, standing uncomfortably within his personal space.

"Well, we've gotten into two fights so far. Not my idea of fun, but I'm getting the feeling we don't have much choice," he replied, looking down at Avaron. He didn't flinch when she suddenly put her hands on his chest. He did, however, wonder _why_ she was putting her hands on his chest.

"You won't hurt my pretty sekirei, will you?" she asked, batting her eyelashes.

"As long as you don't go after mine."

"OK, OK, now stop touching him!" Benitsubasa began stomping towards Avaron, seeming completely out of patience. As she moved towards the female ashikabi, Masukagami moved too and the two sekirei ended up squaring off again, glaring daggers at each other.

Avaron moved away from Madoka now, heading back to Masukagami who relaxed, causing Benitsubasa to relax too – though she still looked ready to kill someone.

"Maybe since we've refrained from ugly, ugly things, we can keep our pretty little sekirei safe," Avaron turned back to face Madoka. "Well, mine is pretty. Yours is giving me ugly looks."

"Why y-" Benitsubasa's complaint was silenced by a hand motion from Madoka.

"Are you proposing an alliance?" he asked warily.

"I don't care about this... sekirei plan. If there must be fighting, I want a better chance of keeping Masukagami safe. Your sekirei seems violent enough; I'm sure with your help we'll manage something," Avaron spoke coolly. Madoka couldn't quite put a finger on it, but something about this girl was off. She seemed to be having little fluctuations in her demeanor as their conversation went on. She'd seemed much more energetic and animated when it began.

"So long as you don't expect us to do all the work. If we help you, you have to help us," Madoka replied with a nod.

"See? We can be friends!" Masukagami clapped happily, looking at Benitsubasa. The pink haired sekirei just scoffed and shook her head in response.

"Of course," Avaron replied. "Masukagami, let's go." The two then left, Masukagami happily prancing after her ashikabi.

**. . .**

"You have friends now! Isn't that wonderful?" Masukagami bounced up and down excitedly on Avaron's bed.

"They're not friends," Avaron replied quietly. She was sitting in the corner of the upstairs bedroom with Masukagami. She was sitting on the floor, her back to the wall and her knees pulled up to her chest. She was fidgeting rapidly with her hands as all of a sudden she had massive amounts of nervous energy in her.

"Why not? Friends are good!" Masukagami stopped bouncing and sat on the edge of the bed. She gave Avaron a questioning look.

"We don't know them!" Avaron snapped. "You got into a fight with one of them! She was plenty eager to fight you! How can you call them friends?" Her angry expression caused Masukagami to shrink back, her expression worried.

"I-I'm sorry. Y-you're right, I'll listen to you," the cowering sekirei relented under Avaron's icy stare.

**. . .**

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Benitsubasa screamed when they arrived back home.

"I avoided a fight." Madoka scowled angrily at Benitsubasa, his ears ringing.

"We're not supposed to avoid fights! We're not supposed to help other sekirei! We're supposed to fight and win and be the last ones standing!" As small as she was, she could be incredibly loud. The walls were practically vibrating.

"You're strong, but you're already hurt from the last fight. It was too risky for you. If I had my way you wouldn't fight ever again, but I doubt we'll have that choice. So instead, having someone who might help us, or at least won't hurt us, is a good thing!" he raised his voice in response to Benitsubasa's yelling. This girl was so stubborn and illogical sometimes. She needed to see reason.

"And you trust them?"

"No." His response thankfully silenced Benitsubasa. "Her sekirei maybe I trust, but that girl... she's not right. I'm not sure if that makes her more or less trustworthy. Probably less. She's the ashikabi, so that's all that matters."

"Well... as long as you know what you're doing." With all this talk of trust, it actually felt good to know Benitsubasa trusted him. He wondered if he'd earned it through merit or simply by being her ashikabi.

* * *

><p><strong>Did I spend too much time on clothes shopping again? Yeah... probably... My bad. I actually cut out a paragraph because I felt I'd gone overboard. But this time it was funny, right? Don't worry, this is the last time I swear. Besides, this is based on Sekirei, I had to put in ecchi type stuff <strong>_**somewhere**_**. Masukagami's a perrrrvvv.**

**Benitsubasa beat the shit out of that loser's sekirei. Why is it always the cute sekirei that must be beaten down instead of their piss-poor ashikabi? Ah well...  
><strong>**(Fixed up in batch one of my edits.)**

**Til' next time!**


	5. I Hate Sharing

**I Hate Sharing**

Benitsubasa was sitting at the foot of Madoka's bed watching him put on his shoes.

"Are you OK?" Benitsubasa asked, seeing that Madoka looked a bit upset.

"Yes... no... yes." Madoka couldn't seem to make up his mind.

"What is it?"

"I'm visiting my parents... again," he replied with an exasperated sigh. "I swear it's worse every time I go. I don't know why I bother."

"Worse?"

"My father greatly disapproves of the way I live my life. My hair is too long, my hands are too soft, my job is too mediocre, and so on and so forth." He shook his head. "He forgets these soft hands could still beat him to death."

"You want to kill your father?" Benitsubasa's eyes widened. That didn't sound healthy.

"Of course not, but he acts like I'm some weak, worthless punk. It pisses me off." He clenched his aforementioned hands tightly. They loosened a moment later though. "Heh, it's nice to get that off my chest at least. Thanks, kid." He patted her on the head. "Why don't you come with me?"

"K-kid?" she complained, but then quickly nodded, "I mean, OK!" She wasn't going to pass up a chance to get closer to her ashikabi, and this seemed like a great chance.

**. . .**

Madoka knocked on the door before him and, after a few moments, the door was answered by a blonde woman with a mildly wrinkled face. His mother.

"Madoka! Oh, and who is this? Hello, dear!" His mother immediately made the assumption that Benitsubasa was "with him" and grabbed Benitsubasa in a hug. The small sekirei's eyes shot wide and her body went rigid in surprise. When Madoka's mother let go, Benitsubasa's expression turned sour, not appreciating the affection. "Oh, I'm sorry, too soon?" The older woman noticed.

"I-" Benitsubasa began to answer, but Madoka interrupted.

"I'm sure you just caught her off guard. Where's father?" Madoka asked, wanting to know how soon to expect his mood to be killed by the man's chafing attitude.

"Oh, sitting in his chair as usual," Madoka's mother responded, still holding a small smile on her face. "But come in, come in!" She ushered them in excitedly. As she turned away to lead them in Madoka reached out and gave Benitsubasa a light smack on the back of her head. She flinched in response and gave him a confused look. His response was a far more intense and scolding look.

'Be polite!' he mouthed. Benitsubasa frowned but eventually nodded. With her tamed for the moment, he led her in. The house was bigger than Madoka's place, but still small. They walked through the entrance hall and then into the kitchen where Madoka's father was sitting at a table drinking what smelled like tea.

The man was taller, likely who Madoka had inherited his own height from. His hair was darker, though it was dangerously thin with a bald patch on the top of his head. He looked up as they walked in and immediately frowned, but not at him.

Madoka was confused, but the reason occurred to him a moment later: the man was glaring at Benitsubasa. He should have seen this coming. He himself had thought Benitsubasa strange when he'd first encountered her. Madoka's father was incredibly strict and must have seen his sekirei's appearance as a travesty.

Of course he couldn't explain that Benitsubasa was a sekirei and her hair was naturally pink. He glanced at her and realized that, while she was wearing the vest, shirt, and shorts he'd bought her, his father wouldn't approve of her clothing either. Her outfit didn't stand out, but as far as his father was concerned the shorts would be too short and her studded belt would be garish.

Finally the awkward silence ended with his father speaking.

"Please tell me this is a joke," the man droned.

"Err, mother, can you take Benitsubasa somewhere so I can talk with father alone?" Madoka asked. He saw his mother slump slightly. He knew she hated that he and his father could never get along, but there wasn't much he could do about it. He could completely change himself to please his father, but he'd never be able to live with himself.

Once his mother had led a scowling Benitsubasa off, the girl wasn't pleased with being sent off, he sat across from his father at the table.

"What's a joke?" he asked his old man.

"That girl. She's ridiculous," his father replied with a steady stare. Madoka had long ago learned not to just crumple under the weight of his father's gaze, though he still couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. "Just another way for you to rebel, I'm sure. You'll probably just get rid of her once you've had your fun."

"One of these days you'll learn I don't spend my every waking moment looking for ways to disappoint you," Madoka argued evasively. His father was wrong, not that he could say so. He was stuck with Benitsubasa whether he liked it or not, and if he tried to explain MBI would probably cut his head off and throw his corpse under a bridge. His father would never believe him anyway.

There was a pattern to his "talks" with his father. At first it would seem completely calm and composed, neither of them raising their voice. Eventually the tension would become too much, one or the other would snap, and then Madoka would just leave – ending the fight as soon as it had begun.

"I assume you're still working at that store?" Another of his father's favorite things to complain about.

"It hasn't been _that_ long since my last visit."

"So, do you prefer girls who dye their hair, or is she just easy?" his father returned the subject to Benitsubasa. Madoka couldn't answer right away. Benitsubasa was a sekirei, bonded to him, and always obeyed him so long as he was firm enough with his words. If he asked her to do things for him, "inappropriate" things, wouldn't she? He grimaced and managed to think of a passable answer before his pause became too noticeable.

"She listens to me when I talk to her, that's all. I'd appreciate it if you'd keep whatever misconstrued thoughts you have about her to yourself." He gave a mental sigh of relief after that. He thought about what he'd just said though and realized it was actually true and not just a something to shut up his father.

"Hmph, so you say. The way she looks tells me otherwise, a shallow girl like that won't have much to offer before long. If you _do_ look for anything meaningful, a girl like that won't have anything." His father spoke with such certainty it enraged him. He acted like he j_ust knew_ what he was talking about. Oh, Madoka knew his father thought he was trying to steer him on the "right path," but sometimes he went too far. It seemed reaching his breaking point wouldn't take long today.

"You don't even _know_ her!" Madoka slammed his fist on the table. He wasn't sure why he was suddenly so angry, he wasn't even actually dating Benitsubasa. She was more an unexpected obligation that he was just trying to learn to live with.

All he knew for sure right now was that he was done with this visit. He didn't wait for his father to respond and got up to find Benitsubasa. When he found her and led her out, the visit had officially ended after a grand total of four minutes.

**. . .**

"I don't like your father!" Benitsubasa exclaimed once they were a short distance away from the house. She even threw her arms up in the air for dramatic effect.

"Join the club. Blood relation can only take things so far," Madoka agreed with a defeated look on his face. He hated that he hated his father. It wasn't like he _wanted_ to not get along with his family.

"I didn't like how he stared at me!" she crossed her arms and scowled deeply.

"He thinks you're some loser with fake pink hair." Madoka shrugged. "Not much we can do about that since it's real. Don't worry about it, it doesn't matter if he likes you or not."

"D-do you like me?" That caught him off guard. Had she overheard him when he'd defended her against his father's unfounded accusations.

"Well, I guess I don't _dis_like you." He shrugged. He was getting more used to having her around at least.

"Oh, well, that's good." She said that, but she sounded disappointed. She'd asked, and he'd given her the truth, and yet he still felt guilty when he saw her disheartened face. He wished he'd taken more time to give her a better answer.

**. . .**

As the pair walked back, they ended up on a stretch of street that was fairly empty. Once again, they found themselves in a commotion, but this time they were not the center of attention. They looked across the street to see a girl with startlingly bright, teal hair jump over a wooden fence. She held a strange weapon in her hand. The weapon looked like a knights lance, but it was double-sided with a thinner handle in-between the two cone-shaped ends.

What really got their attention though was the sight of the wooden fence effectively exploding as another figure made his presence known. It was a very tall figure whose gender was indiscernible as he wore a fairly concealing outfit. It was a heavy cloak complete with a face-wrap that covered everything but his eyes. Their outfit wasn't what they were paying attention to though, it was the massive half-moon shaped blades the individual had in each hand. The blades were large and sharp enough to easily cut one in two, and the handles ended in red tassels.

"Please stop running. You're annoying my sekirei." They faintly heard a male voice speak before the owner of the voice walked through the gaping hole in the fence formed by the bladed sekirei.

"I don't want you! Go away!" The lance holder, who must also have been a sekirei, shouted back.

"You can't get away. Look how tired and hungry you are. If you become my sekirei you'll get fed." The young man chuckled.

"NO!" The lance sekirei backed away, not giving in.

"This is pissing me off," Madoka frowned. His visit with his family already had him in a bad mood. "I don't suppose you mind helping another sekirei since it involves beating the hell out of someone?" He glanced at Benitsubasa. His only regret was that Benitsubasa would be taking all the risk for him.

"Fine." Benitsubasa cracked her knuckles.

"Go get 'em." Madoka motioned with a hand and Benitsubasa quickly complied.

**. . .**

The bladed sekirei advanced on the lance holder, completely oblivious to the two witnesses who were now getting involved. The first warning the bladed sekirei got was a kick slamming into the back of his knee. He was big though, so he quickly regained his balance to turn and look at his attacker.

Benitsubasa was annoyed and surprised that her kick had been so ineffectual. She had to do a quick back-flip to avoid a blade that was swung at her head. She had an idea though. Her opponent swung again, but Benitsubasa jumped up and the blade actually big enough for her to land on with one foot. She jumped again and was now right about head level with her opponent. She kicked out, raining down three blows with her feet to her opponent's face. Using the last bit of momentum from her jump and with her left foot still planted down, she stomped down with her right for a much harder kick to the bladed sekirei's face before gracefully falling backwards and rolling to a kneeling position while her opponent stumbled dazedly backwards.

Judging by the pained groans, her opponent was actually female... which made sense being that most sekirei were.

"Hmph. Are you planning to steal my prize from me? Well you'll be disappointed. You got a lucky shot, that is all," the bladed sekirei's ashikabi spoke in a very stuck up tone. If he had redeeming qualities, they were not currently showing through.

"Hell no! My ashikabi only needs me!" Benitsubasa responded for Madoka, glaring daggers at the enemy ashikabi. The conversation ended there for the bladed sekirei had recovered from the kicks to her face. She moved towards Benitsubasa, swinging her weapons with surprising speed. Surprising, but not faster than her and she dodged every swing.

Benitsubasa soon saw an easy opportunity to repeat her trick from earlier, so when her opponent swung at her once more she jumped up to land on the blade. Unfortunately the bladed sekirei saw this coming and tilted the blade and caused her to slip. Instead of just letting her fall, the bladed sekirei quickly spun around and slammed her arm into Benitsubasa with enough force to send the her tumbling away. The hit was hard enough that it was worse than the hard landing she experienced a second later.

Unfortunately, she hadn't been knocked so far away that the bladed sekirei didn't have time to reach her before she could get up and soon found herself being kicked in the ribs and sent tumbling once more. She rolled onto her back and squinted through the pain in time to see not a limb but a blade careening towards her this time. It was desperation more than anything that allowed her to roll away from the strike at the last second. The blade struck less than an inch away, cutting through the concrete sidewalk. It wasn't hard to imagine what it would have done to her much softer body.

She attempted to stand, but her opponent strapped one blade to her hip, grabbed Benitsubasa, and lifted her up so her feet were dangling a foot off the ground. The one remaining blade was pulled back and then trust forward. It took all of Benitsubasa's strength to reach out and grab the other sekirei's wrist and keep from being terminated right then and there. The blade was left hovering a mere inch from her throat, the strength in her two arms barely overpowered the strength in her opponent's one.

Benitsubasa wasn't going to simply hang there and wait for her strength to run out though. She tucked her knees in and then kicked out, slamming her feet into her opponent's chest. She pushed as hard as she could and managed to rip free of the bladed sekirei's grasp.

Her situation didn't improve much as she landed hard on her back and found the bladed sekirei kneeling on top of her, shoving a blade towards her face. Once again she was struggling to keep the blade that hovered an inch away from cutting into her. This position was much worse, and she feared the strength in her arms would fade much faster now that gravity was against her.

**. . .**

With Benitsubasa moments from being terminated, the lance wielding sekirei turned to escape while there was still something to distract the enemy sekirei who had been chasing her down. She didn't get far when someone grabbed her wrist. She turned, looking close to panic to see who or what was holding her.

"Wait! Please... you have to help her!" It was the pink haired sekirei's ashikabi. She wasn't sure what to make of this. This ashikabi had come to her aid and was now asking for her to return the favor. Should she? She realized she'd have to decide soon or his sekirei would be terminated and he might just throw her to the wolves. She looked him over quickly: he was tall, blond, and had an interesting left eye. She could respect that he was trying to save his sekirei. Perhaps he wouldn't be so bad.

"Hmm, OK," she replied after a pause and instead of resisting his grip on her she moved towards him.

**. . .**

Madoka suddenly found himself on the receiving end of an unexpected kiss for the third time, only this time it wasn't Benitsubasa who was kissing him. The girl pulled away and astral, light-green wings spread behind her.

"And one more." She suddenly moved in again and gave him another kiss. This one was a bit shorter than the last, but afterward as her wings appeared and faded once more she stepped past him towards where the bladed sekirei was. She cleared her throat to get the other sekirei's attention, and then started chanting without waiting for a response. "This javelin carries forth my vow. Pierce the sorrow of my ashikabi!" She held out her hand palm up and her weapon began to spin rapidly and hover over her hand.

Meanwhile, the bladed sekirei had indeed noticed the commotion behind her. Giving up on Benitsubasa, she pulled her blade away and instead grabbed the smaller girl by the throat before tossing her roughly aside. Benitsubasa crashed into, and through, the nearby wooden fence.

"Please go away now," the javelin sekirei giggled before her expression hardened. "_Makaze!_" She shouted and without moving her hand at all, the javelin shot forward, a terrifying high pitched whine coming for it as it spiraled through the air towards its target. The bladed sekirei held up both blades across her chest to block just before the javelin struck.

A terrible noise was heard as it drilled into the blades, actually pushing the bladed sekirei back as sparks flew from metal hitting metal. Before long the javelin wasn't simply pushing against the blades, but drilling right through them and into the sekirei behind them. Before it could go all the way through though, it finally stopped spinning. Then, silently, the javelin flew back through the air into its owner's hand under its own, mysterious power.

The bladed sekirei, standing well over two dozen feet from where she'd been standing when the attack had hit her slowly fell to her knees with a bloody hole in her chest. Miraculously still conscious, her hands flew out to catch herself before she could collapse further. She wouldn't have much time to breathe though, for Benitsubasa had pulled herself out of the wreckage of the fence and was stomping right towards her.

"Yeah... right there... don't move," Benitsubasa growled menacingly and grabbed the mortally wounded sekirei's chin. She then swung with a brutal uppercut that launched the bladed sekirei all the way back up on to her feet before she collapsed onto her back and lay still.

"Wh-what? No! Not fair!" The bladed sekirei's ashikabi whimpered. He then flinched when Benitsubasa's enraged glare fell upon him.

"Get out of my sight," she said in an icy, intimidating tone. The now terrified ashikabi quickly obeyed, running in the first direction he found that took him away from the maleficent sekirei. With him gone, Benitsubasa began marching towards Madoka.

"You're welc-" the javelin sekirei attempted to speak to her, but was shoved roughly aside. Upon reaching Madoka, she grabbed his shirt and pulled down on it so she could speak to him face-to-face.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?" She screamed at him. It hurt his ears to say the least.

"Saved you," Madoka responded with admirable calmness.

"Do you have any idea what you just did? Now that... that... _slut_ is your sekirei too!" Benitsubasa ranted with a wild look in her eyes.

"Wait, what?" The javelin sekirei protested the name used to describe her. However, Madoka paused for a moment. He _had_ just winged another sekirei. He repressed a groan as he realized that he'd only made his situation even more difficult, as he'd now have to care for _two_ other people.

"I take it this upsets you?" Madoka raised an eyebrow. As if he really had to ask; Benitsubasa's actions spoke quite clearly. Her reasoning was fairly obvious too, but he supposed he'd give her the chance to let it all out. He found himself off balance as Benitsubasa pulled him even closer, her grip now becoming painful.

"I. Don't. Share," she hissed before turning her hateful gaze towards the sekirei that was currently earning her ire.

"I see. So it's jealously is it?" Madoka asked, still not intimidated in the least. Between his own personality and the fact that he knew Benitsubasa was all bark and no bite when it came to him, it was hard to be scared by her. He didn't feel like backing down to her. Benitsubasa's only response to his words was incoherent, angry stuttering which was punctuated with her letting him go and storming off towards home.

"Is she always like that?" the javelin sekirei asked now that Benitsubasa had gone.

"Actually that's a new level of anger. It's kind of impressive really. You should be proud of yourself since most of it is directed at you," Madoka shrugged. "That or be terrified. Whatever seems best to you." To his surprise, the sekirei actually smiled and laughed,

"You're funny! I'm glad I picked you!" she said. "Oh, I should tell you my name! Call me Sukaime. I'm sekirei number ninety-nine!" As she told him her name, he took a moment to look her over. She was actually even shorter than Benitsubasa, though she made up for that by being better "developed" in other areas. Her hair was incredibly short in the back, less than an inch long, but not quite a buzz cut. Her bangs were another matter. They were normal on her left side, but starting from the middle of her forehead, she lad a long wedge of bangs that went all the way down to her chin, effectively obscuring her right eye.

Her outfit was some kind of tight-fitting material that covered her entire body leaving only her neck and head exposed. However, it had a small diamond cut-out on her chest and another over her navel. There were also two diamond cuts revealing the entirety of her inner thighs. He'd also noticed a series of three other diamond cuts on the back of her outfit. Lastly there was a small, seemingly pointless skirt of the same material as the rest of the outfit. Pointless because it was three inches long at most and didn't cover much of anything. It had a strange color scheme that reminded him of a chess set. It had a white front, but a black back. The arms were black on the outside, but white on the underside; the legs were the opposite of that. Lastly, the "skirt" was black, but with a white underside.

"You uhh... have an interesting outfit." Madoka pursed his lips. He sure as hell wouldn't be bringing Sukaime to meet his parents. Not in that outfit anyway. Calling her a slut was probably too much, but her outfit didn't do her any favors in that regard.

"Sexy, huh?" Sukaime winked, actually earning a surprised blush from Madoka. "I think so anyway!"

"A bold one, eh? Great," Madoka grumbled, mostly to himself. Benitsubasa didn't hide her feelings, but she wasn't especially forward for the most part. He was pretty sure he understood that a sekirei was entirely devoted to its ashikabi, so if Sukaime was as open about her feelings as he was starting to think she was... things might get awkward.

"Yep!"

**. . .**

Benitsubasa was home long before Madoka and... the slut. She hadn't stuck around long enough to find out her name. She also didn't care what it was. As far as she was concerned, she was a slut, so slut would be her name.

It didn't matter to Benitsubasa that the sekirei hadn't shown any behavior to actually earn such a moniker. Besides, the slut still had time to prove her right. They'd be spending a lot of time together after all.

"Dammit! I'll terminate her myself the second I see her!" Benitsubasa punched the couch she was sitting on currently. She then bit her thumbnail, deep in thought. Not only had Madoka decided to ally with another ashikabi/sekirei pair, both of whom were female, but now he'd taken a second sekirei!

However, when Madoka came home with the slut, all she could do was stare blankly. After a few moments though she snapped out of it and ran into the bathroom where she could lock the door. She didn't even want to think about the little harlot who was no doubt trying to steal Madoka from her.

**. . .**

"I don't think she likes me," Sukaime said to Madoka upon seeing Benitsubasa's hasty retreat from the room as they entered.

"Nope," Madoka replied simply.

"Umm, do _you_ like me?" Sukaime asked, staring up into his eyes.

"I don't _know_ you."

"That can be remedied." Sukaime leaned into him heavily and batted her eyelashes.

"No, thank you." Madoka grabbed her shoulders and set her back out of his personal space. "Why don't you go introduce yourself to Benitsubasa and try not to get your skull bashed in. I need you two to get along or else it's going to be torture in this place. It's not big enough for you two to completely avoid each other."

"All right, if you say so," Sukaime replied with a shrug, her flirtatious demeanor fading to a more passive one. Well, mostly. She exaggerated the sway of her hips as she walked off to find Benitsubasa.

**. . .**

Sukaime tapped her chin as she stood in front of the bathroom door. It couldn't keep her out, but she figured that destroying her ashikabi's bathroom door would be a bad idea. That wasn't really how she liked to do things anyway.

"Oh, Benitsubasa-chaaaan!" she called out in a sickly sweet voice. As she suspected the door flew open and she found herself face-to-face with a very angry looking Benitsubasa.

"Don't talk to me like that," the pink haired sekirei said in a dangerously low voice.

"But it got the door open didn't it?" Sukaime bobbed her eyebrows up and down.

". . ." Benitsubasa moved to shut he door with an intensely aggravated look on her face, but Sukaime put her foot in the doorway and stopped it.

"Madoka-sama wants us to get along you know. Don't you want to make him happy?" Sukaime asked slyly, leaning against the door frame.

"He doesn't like being called that," Benitsubasa corrected her.

"Now you're just showing off." Sukaime could read the girl like a book. She could tell because Benitsubasa frowned the second she said it, but didn't deny it. "I don't mind if you try to make me look bad. I'm new. Obviously I don't know all these things. Thank you for teaching me."

"I'm going to kill you if you don't go away." Benitsubasa's expression said the same.

"Hmm, but won't that anger Madoka? I won't go quietly. Things will get broken, and I doubt he'll be happy you hurt me. In fact he might never forgive you for doing such a horrible thing purely out of jealousy." Sukaime reached out and poked Benitsubasa on the nose to punctuate her statement. Benitsubasa froze at her words. She sputtered as she tried to form a coherent sentence to respond.

"Why... you..."

"Sukaime."

"Wh-what?" Benitsubasa blinked.

"My name is Sukaime."

"Slut."

"That's uncalled for." Sukaime rolled her eyes.

"That's _my_ name for you." Benitsubasa smirked. "I think it's fitting. Just look at you."

"Wel-"

"Slut."

"Bu-"

"Slut."

"Please st-"

"Slut."

"It's not going to work." Sukaime giggled a little. She'd been starting to look annoyed, but suddenly she seemed fine.

"Slu-. . . what isn't?" Benitsubasa asked.

"Trying to make me angry? You're too obvious. You're a brute, just thrashing around and having a tantrum." Sukaime grinned as she saw Benitsubasa tremble with rage. She ducked when the other girl's fist flew out as her temper peaked. Sukaime grabbed the door and pulled it in between her and Benitsubasa. She heard a light '_thunk'_ as Benitsubasa hit the door instead of her, but obviously she'd pulled back at the last second or the door probably would have shattered.

"Dammit..." she heard her swear from the other side.

"Ooh, careful, don't break his door!" Sukaime giggled tauntingly. She realized that she was probably going about making friends the wrong way, but this other sekirei was too easy to toy with. She had to hold in a bout of laughter when she opened the door again and saw Benitsubasa's furious expression. She could actually see Benitsubasa twitching as she tried to rein herself in so as not to break something in a fit of violence. "Deep breaths, deep breaths," Sukaime advised with an amused grin on her face.

"We. Will never. Get along," Benitsubasa said coldly when she finally composed herself enough.

"Aww, but I like you!" It was at least partly true, though she didn't feel any feelings of amicability towards Benitsubasa.

"What?" Benitsubasa, understandably, didn't expect that.

"Hm, you're cute when you're flustered." Sukaime then reached out and patted Benitsubasa on the cheek, causing the other sekirei to flinch. Then without warning she grabbed her by the chin and kissed her on the cheek, though dangerously close to Benitsubasa's lips. After the shock wore off, Benitsubasa shoved Sukaime away and quickly wiped her cheek off with her arm, and then left the arm in place defensively.

"What the hell was that?" Benitsubasa screeched, looking horrified and offended.

"Ahh, I always wanted a female ashikabi! I'm small, so I wanted someone closer to my size! You're not my ashikabi, but you are just the right size, and cute, and we'll be stuck together for the foreseeable future!" Sukaime explained with a perverted look on her face.

"I-I don't-"

"The way I see it, a sekirei becomes devoted to whoever wings them, male or female, so doesn't that mean that we sekirei are attracted to both genders? Doesn't that mean I can be attracted to you?" She licked her lips.

"NO!" Benitsubasa shook her head rapidly. "That's just wrong! We're both sekirei! We're both winged! We're both _girls!_"

"Oh, but I don't think it's wrong. I'm devoted to Madoka, but I can still have fun with you, can't I? It's a perfect opportunity for me since we're both his sekirei. It wouldn't feel right if I did it to a girl or sekirei that wasn't his." Sukaime shrugged.

"You're forgetting the part where I kill you if you ever touch me again!" Benitsubasa growled and clenched her fists.

"Ah, so I don't have permission? I see. Well, I guess it's too soon after meeting after all." Sukaime sighed. "But for Madoka's sake, let's at least pretend to get along shall we? I don't want to quarrel, so if there's any animosity it will have to come from you, and so that is where Madoka's displeasure will be directed. At you. So if you don't want that, behave." Sukaime smirked and walked off, hips swaying, leaving a sputtering mad Benitsubasa behind her.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa locked herself back into the bathroom the second Sukaime was out of sight. She felt disturbed and incredibly violated. She decided that slut was the perfect word after all. She couldn't believe that Madoka had really winged another sekirei; and such a horrible one at that. The worst part was a small, nagging part of her knew that if not for Sukaime she might have been terminated.

"Hmph, that's the only reason I'll let her live after this," Benitsubasa muttered to herself. The next time Sukaime stepped out of line though, she'd rip her in half. That was how she spent the next hour: imaging the horrible things she'd do to Sukaime if she was given reason to.

Eventually the small bathroom began to feel claustrophobic. With a groan of loathing, she headed out of the room. Maybe she'd relax on the couch.

She found Sukaime on the couch.

She spun on her heel and headed away from the room before she did something she'd regret and went to find Madoka. This was not going to work.

"What is the slut doing on the couch?" Benitsubasa raved and pointed in the general direction of the couch, her arm shaking with anger.

"Resting I assume," Madoka replied and rolled his eyes.

"But _I_ use the couch!" With what little there was to do in the small dwelling, Benitsubasa often made her way to the weathered piece of furniture to daydream the days away.

"It may be small, but so are you two, you can both fit." Madoka shot her an impatient glance. "I probably don't have to ask, considering your use of language, but I take it you two aren't getting along."

"No. Me and the slu-"

"Use her name please."

"We're not getting along."

"Well I guess that's better than swearing." Madoka pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Ugh, forget that she's using my couch-"

"Whose couch?" Madoka raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Where am I going to sleep?" Benitsubasa scowled. This time Madoka didn't answer her, and instead he gained a blank expression.

"Ah... well... dammit." He hung his head after a few moments of silence.

"Can I... you know." Benitsubasa dug her toes into the floor shyly and looked up at him. She saw a chance to get _very _close to him now.

". . . no . . ." he said deadpan.

"Please? I don't want to sleep on the cold, hard floor." She pouted excessively.

"N-" She made her eyes go wide as she saw he was still planning on denying her. "Ugh, fine."

"Thank you!" She flung herself at him. As she buried her face into his chest, she smirked. This was definitely a victory over Sukaime.

Later that day, once night had fallen and after Madoka had made a dinner for three, it was finally time for bed. It was also time for Madoka to make good on his promise and share his bed with Benitsubasa. As Benitsubasa headed to his room from the bathroom, though,Sukaime intercepted her.

"Hmm, using me as an excuse to sneak into his bed?" she asked, looking amused.

"No. We're very... close. Intimate. We, uh, always sleep together." Benitsubasa mentally kicked herself for speaking so uncertainly. Sukaime was bound to see through her.

"How cute." Or maybe she didn't? "You're lying to make me jealous!" No, no she definitely had.

"Sh-shut up. I still get to share his bed and you don't." Benitsubasa stuck her nose into the air, her unsubstantial chest puffed out in an attempt to flaunt her perceived superiority.

"So you do, so you do. Well, I hope you're comfortable."

"I will be. Very." Benitsubasa crossed her arms smugly.

"Can I get a kiss goodnig-" Benitsubasa walked away before Sukaime could finish her sentence. "Good_night_!" Sukaime called after her in a sing-song voice.

When Benitsubasa got into Madoka's room, she came upon a curious sight. Madoka's bed had a row of pillows dividing the already small bed into even smaller halves the tall way.

"Why did y-" Benitsubasa blinked in confusion at the sight.

"My side," Madoka cut her off and pointed to the left side of the bed. "Your side." He pointed to the right.

"What?" Benitsubasa's body went slack. Why would he do that? This would ruin everything! How could she cuddle up to him? Feel his warmth?

"I'm used to sleeping alone. If you cling to me I'll be uncomfortable and I won't be able to sleep," he replied, not looking particularly happy about the set up as it was.

"I won't cling, promise!" Benitsubasa attempted to salvage the situation.

"No. Now stop complaining or it's the floor for you."

"F-fine..." she relented. As long as she got to be in the same bed, that was a big enough step forward for now.

**. . .**

"No."

"Wh-"

"Put it back." Benitsubasa slowly put the pillow back in place between her and Madoka, wondering how she'd been caught. He wasn't even looking.

**. . .**

"Put. It. Back."

* * *

><p><strong>Lyke omg, they totally slept together... and <strong>_**nothing happened**_****.****

**Oh, and he's got two sekirei now. That means he's all cool and stuff. You know, cuz it's not like there's another ashikabi who has over ten.**

**Oh wait...**

**No Avaron/Masukagami action in this one, sorry to you folks who like them, but hopefully you can shift some of that affection towards Sukaime! She's gonna be a funny one. Funny haha? It remains to be seen.  
><strong>**(Fixed up in batch one of my edits.)**

**Til' next time!**


	6. I Hate Losing

**I Hate Losing**

Madoka was gone as he always was on workdays, and his warmth was long gone from his bed. Benitsubasa had slept in well past noon. She made her way to the kitchen/dining room and helped herself to some dry cereal, finding herself too lazy to bother with anything more involved. It tasted good enough anyway.

It was as she headed to the living room that she realized just how different things were going to be with another sekirei around. Her couch was being... _defiled_.

"That's _my_ spot." Benitsubasa felt her hands ball into fists without even thinking about it. Sukaime looked up from her lounging position on the couch.

"Hm? Is it? My bad," the teal haired girl replied and then yawned. She didn't get up.

"Yes. Now get off." Benitsubasa reached down to forcefully remove Sukaime, already out of patience since the day before, but Sukaime swatted her hand away.

"I don't want to. Besides, you can't claim the couch. It belongs to Madoka-sama, not you," Sukaime replied, looking and sounding bored.

"Then you can't claim it either!"

"Hmm, but I got here first."

"No, I did!"

"Oh? Then why is it that I'm on the couch and you aren't?" Sukaime countered with a sly little smirk. "You may be his first sekirei, but while you were sleeping over half the day away I took my spot here. I'll have to get up eventually, so you can feel free to steal it back then." Her answer only served to infuriate Benitsubasa. Where did this little slut get the nerve to act so superior?

"That's it..." Benitsubasa grumbled and walked around behind the couch. She got on her knees and reached under the back end of the furniture piece. With her inhuman strength she easily tipped it until she was rewarded with a satisfying thud. She stood up with a triumphant grin and saw Sukaime now sitting on the floor. Her grin faded as Sukaime laughed.

"You just don't have the ability to give in, do you?" Sukaime looked at her, not seeming irritated in the slightest.

"I told you... it was my spot." Benitsubasa felt quite justified in her actions. She'd warned Sukaime.

"If I stole a chip from you, would you make me spit it back out so you could eat it?" Sukaime raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe just the first part." No way she'd eat anything that had been in Sukaime's mouth.

"Well, knowing what you want isn't such a bad thing I suppose. Seems you're more than willing to fight for it too. Or maybe you just like to fight, period, and look for excuses wherever you can." Benitsubasa didn't like how Sukaime seemed to be analyzing her. Maybe it was because part of her knew she wasn't far from the truth.

"Shut up, slut." Benitsubasa vaulted over the back of the couch and reclaimed her spot.

"You just got up. Are you planning to go to sleep again already?" Sukaime asked.

"I always lay here and wait for Madoka-_kun._" Benitsubasa took the chance to correct Sukaime's improper suffix usage again. She'd already told Sukaime how Madoka preferred to be addressed.

"Hm, and how long do you have to wait?"

"Nine or ten hours usually."

"Really? Sounds boring. Is there nothing else to do?"

"No."

"There _is _a T.V. right there you know." Sukaime pointed to said object. "But let me guess; if I turn it on now it'll disturb your lounging and you'll yell at me again."

"Yep."

"Can't we go out?"

"Last time I did that I almost got terminated." Benitsubasa instantly regretted what she saw as an admission of weakness.

"Ooh, do tell!" Sukaime seemed quite eager to pry.

"I got into a fight, messed up, and Madoka-kun saved me. End of story." Benitsubasa shot a soul incinerating glare at Sukaime.

"I see, I see, but he couldn't have fought off a sekirei for you. What happened?" Sukaime rolled onto her stomach and propped her chin up on her hands while her feet kicked lazily behind her.

"Ugh..." Benitsubasa stared at the ceiling for a few moments before deciding to relate the events of her fight against Mitama to Sukaime. "After Madoka-kun showed up I got my second wind and then beat the hell out of her and got to her crest," she wrapped it up concisely. The rest of the tale hadn't exactly been riddled with fine details either, but it seemed to satisfy Sukaime.

"Mm, the damsel in distress rescued by her knight in shining armor." Sukaime giggled happily. "Of course most damsels don't then go back and demolish the villain."

"Shut up! You got your story, now leave me alone!" Benitsubasa snarled at Sukaime. No matter what the girl said it always felt patronizing.

"What? I'm just saying it's a very romantic tale."

"Go away or I'll romance your teeth right out of your face. There's nothing romantic about ending up face down on a sidewalk."

"Are you saying there's nothing romantic about having your ashikabi show up and give you the strength to fight on?"

"I shouldn't have needed his help!" Benitsubasa sat up, about ready to jump off the couch and pummel Sukaime. Sukaime recoiled at the sight, but calmed down quickly.

"Ah, I see. You feel like you should have had the strength to win from the start. You won, but all you can think about now is how he saw you when he showed up: weak and battered on the ground." Sukaime smirked knowingly as she said exactly what Benitsubasa was thinking.

"Wh-why won't you just go away!" Benitsubasa bit her lip. Suddenly she wasn't feeling angry anymore. Sukaime's words were sucking the life out of her.

"Fine, fine. It's not good to bottle those kinds of things up, though." Sukaime finally stood up and walked out of the room. Of course she'd waited until Benitsubasa felt terrible though. She was beginning to hate Sukaime out of more than just jealousy.

**. . .**

"This place is too empty," Avaron said, looking around her barren house. It was devoid of... well... most everything. Food, especially, was scarce. It reminded her of her cell.

"Are we going to go shopping?" Masukagami beamed in excitement.

"I suppose we'll have to." Avaron was getting twitchy in the house. She honestly felt she _had_ to do something about it.

The twitchy feeling didn't go away even as they headed out. Avaron had been feeling very agitated lately. She found it very easy to get angry at the smallest things. At least, she hoped, furniture stores wouldn't have much to get angry at.

"We need chairs, and tables, and shelves..." Masukagami listed as they walked through the store. "Hmm, I hope they deliver." Fortunately they did, because by the time they were done they'd picked enough furnishing to take care of both floors of the house. Well, Masukagami had picked and Avaron had simply nodded or shook her head. She was having trouble thinking again.

As they headed back home, Avaron was losing patience with herself. There was a cloud in her mind that was making life harder than it had to be. This time she was simply getting angry despite no provocation. Eventually her expression was noticed by Masukagami.

"Are you OK Avaron-sama? You look upset." She moved closer and tried to catch Avaron's eyes.

"Shut up," Avaron growled from in her throat. Couldn't Masukagami ever be quiet? She was trying to think!

"Wh-what?"

"I want you to be quiet! So shut up!" Avaron snapped and glared at the confused girl who was now backing away from her.

"I-I'm sorry, I-I will b-"

"Don't apologize, be quiet!" This time Masukagami simply nodded, her eyes growing moist. She looked scared, but that didn't matter to Avaron right now. She walked over to her sekirei and grabbed the girl's top to pull her face close. She saw Masukagami blush as their faces hovered mere centimeters apart. The way the other girl's lips twitched she knew she wanted a kiss. That realization only seemed to fuel Avaron's sudden rage. "Why can't you ever think? Are you always this slow and single-minded? If you want to please me so badly then why can't you just obey me?" Avaron shouted right into the cowering sekirei's face.

Masukagami didn't answer, probably trying to obey her previous order.

"Speak you blithering idiot!" Avaron shouted louder, causing Masukagami to wince.

"I-I'm s-s-sorry. I'll d-do better, I-I p-promise!" Masukagami hiccuped, beginning to cry.

"Good," Avaron replied coldly and shoved her back. Masukagami stumbled and stood where she ended up, sobbing quietly, looking hurt and confused. "What are you waiting for? I'm heading home, follow me or I'll leave you behind!" With that, Avaron did as she'd just said and began heading home. Masukagami obeyed readily.

They didn't make it all the way back. A trio got in their way, one boy and two girls. The boy was fairly average, but wearing a nice wool jacket despite the fact that the cold weather was rapidly fading day by day. He had an air of superiority about him.

"She's a sekirei isn't she? Just look at her, it's so obvious," the boy said.

"Yep. Aww, she's crying. How pathetic," one of the girls replied. She wore a sleeveless, loose-fitting, low-cut top with a sash tied tightly around her waist above baggy pants that were also tied tightly at her ankles. Her black hair was tied up in a bun with a pair of hair sticks. A pair of kama were tucked into the sash at her waist.

"Don't worry dear, we'll fix everything. We'll take you away from your cruel ashikabi," the other girl, sekirei, added. Her brown hair was in a simple ponytail. She wore a tight fitting orange jumpsuit, but with crisscrossing black stripes over her thighs and shoulders.

"Get back, Avaron-sama!" Masukagami rushed forward and put herself between the aggressors and Avaron.

"What do you want? Why are you ugly fools bothering us?" Avaron said, venom lacing her words. She didn't care for the way the three were regarding her and Masukagami.

"Ugly? Why you little bitch! I'll scratch your eyes out!" the first sekirei retorted.

"So easily offended, Kayanezumi. Keep your calm," the male ashikabi said to the first sekirei.

"You won't lay a hand on her!" Masukagami pulled out her mirror and aimed it at the offending sekirei. She gave it a spin and disappeared. She reappeared behind the sekirei and then swung the mirror, striking her target in the head with the golden frame of the mirror. The other sekirei turned, shocked at Masukagami's sudden relocation, but she only turned in time to get the mirror swung up into her jaw.

**. . .**

Kayanezumi recovered, turning around and pulling out her pair of kama. Masukagami quickly backed off, putting her mirror away. She then unlatched something from her wrist. It was a much smaller, palm sized mirror now dangling by a golden chain. Masukagami quickly grabbed it and held it in her hand, mirror side facing her opponents.

The kama wielder moved in and swung down at her, but she raised her hand-mirror and blocked it. The glass of the mirror was unscathed, but the kama was knocked away. She tried to swing with her second kama, but Masukagami was already moving out of the way. Masukagami held out her small mirror, moving it close to Kayanezumi's arm and suddenly the skin split open and she dropped her left kama as she cried out in pain.

"Dammit, Yozora, help me!" Kayanezumi called out to the second sekirei who was still nursing her bruised jaw.

"Fine, fine," Yozora pulled a few shuriken seemingly out of nowhere and threw them at Masukagami with deadly accuracy. Three stars flew at her and Masukagami held out her small mirror, deflecting one while dodging the others. The shuriken that bounced off the mirror headed right back to where it had come from. Yozora's eyes shot wide and she dove out of the way at the last second.

"Be careful. She's using a mirror. I think you can guess by now how it works," their ashikabi spoke calmly.

"Yes, ashikabi-sama." Kayanezumi nodded and grimaced, holding her wounded arm gingerly.

"You two are not that skilled. I'm sorry that you won't get to ascend with your ashikabi," Masukagami said in an unusually serious tone. She aimed her mirror at Kayanezumi and without warning a wound opened up on her shoulder. Two more followed, one in her other shoulder and one on her side. Upon closer inspection, one might have noticed a slight distortion in the air moving from the mirror to the now wounded sekirei.

"Shut up!" Yozora threw two more shuriken, but Masukagami aimed her mirror at both and both were knocked out of the air. She turned her focus on Yozora now and wounds quickly appeared across her chest one after another until she collapsed.

"Yozora!" Kayanezumi's eyes went wide. She tried to rush at Masukagami, but with her arms and one leg wounded she could only swing clumsily. Masukagami dodged out of the way and reached out, grabbing the limping sekirei in a headlock with one arm. She let her mirror dangle, and with her free arm she found her captive's sekirei crest.

"My mirror reveals my pledge, reflect misfortune upon her ashikabi!" Masukagami chanted and, with a gasp from her victim, Kayanezumi went limp and collapsed as she was released.

"Watch out!" Masukagami quickly turned towards the only remaining source of danger as Avaron called out. She had just enough time to lean out of the way of a shuriken. Yozora had propped herself up on one arm so she could attack with the other. She didn't get the chance to attack again when Masukagami used her mysterious, tiny mirror to cut her open twice more from a distance. Yozora couldn't withstand the wounds and her crest disappeared as she succumbed to her injuries.

"Thank you, ashikabi-sama," Masukagami turned back to Avaron, grateful for the warning. She'd assumed she'd already defeated Yozora.

"What... what are you? How could you hurt them just by looking at them?" the ashikabi of the defeated pair looked completely bewildered and more than a little afraid.

"My mirror doesn't just reflect an attack, it memorizes them. Whatever type of damage I reflect, I become able to send at an enemy. I am of course restricted by the form of attack. She used a ranged weapon, so I was able to attack from a distance. I can't do that if my mirror remembers a punch or close range weapon," Masukagami explained. Her opponents were gone, so she saw no harm in detailing her powers to this now impotent ashikabi. Besides, she'd never explained to her own ashikabi, so she figured Avaron would be able to learn from her explanation as well.

"Using their own powers against them... that's so cheap! You're weak unless you steal another's abilities!" the defeated ashikabi retorted.

"Be silent you ugly brute!" Avaron entered the argument. "Your sekirei were the bumbling weaklings! My Masukagami was making fools of them from the start!" With that said, she grabbed Masukagami's arm and led her around the infuriated ashikabi. So infuriated, he lashed out as they went by, reaching for Avaron. Masukagami didn't appreciate this in the slightest.

The man soon found himself with Masukagami's smaller mirror an inch from his forehead with his offending hand caught in a vice grip from Masukagami's free hand.

"You've lost. Leave now," Masukagami ordered, her normally mirthful eyes burning with malicious intent towards the man who dared raise even a finger towards her beloved ashikabi.

They made it home with no further interruption after the enemy ashikabi had fled in terror. However, despite her efforts to protect Avaron, despite fighting with all her might to prove herself, Avaron had immediately locked herself in her room... alone. Masukagami didn't understand, it made no sense to her. Avaron had even spoken up for her, called Masukagami "hers." Masukagami could only assume Avaron liked her and wanted her, so why was she keeping away now?

**. . .**

Avaron was starting to feel exceptionally jittery. She suddenly hated what she'd done. She'd been mean to Masukagami. Hadn't she said Masukagami was beautiful? Hadn't she called her perfect? However, she'd been cruel and even assaulted the mirror sekirei with violence.

She didn't want to be near Masukagami. She was afraid. Afraid both of and for Masukagami. She'd never known Masukagami had a violent side, not until that night, not like that. She was certain that Masukagami would never hurt her, so she couldn't hold that violence against Masukagami, at least not too much. She despised violent people; she didn't want anything ugly to mar her precious sekirei.

What kept her in her room was the other part of her fear. She was afraid she'd be cruel again. She was afraid she'd do ugly, ugly things to Masukagami.

**. . .**

Masukagami had ended up laying on her back on the floor on the bottom floor of the house. She wasn't sure if it was because of her mood or simply because the new furniture wasn't there yet. It must have been her mood, though, for despite the still sparse furnishing there _were_ places to sit. She was staring blankly at the ceiling. The plain white ceiling matched the lack of thoughts in her head. The only thing that could be on her mind was Avaron, but she'd sulked over her for over an hour already, leaving her with nothing else worth thinking about.

A moment later, she had a new reason to have her mind go blank. Mostly, this was due to shock at what she was seeing. That just happened to be up Avaron's dress as her ashikabi walked into a position granting her a perfect line of sight. The first, shameful thought to go through her mind once it started working again was that this moment would be better if only she'd convinced Avaron to buy the underwear she'd picked out...

"Enjoying the view?" Avaron asked, causing Masukagami to panic and start stuttering incoherently. She attempted to get up, but Avaron knelt down and placed her hands on Masukagami's shoulders to keep her in place. "I've been bad to you."

"Wh-what?" Masukagami was now completely befuddled.

"I've been mean to my precious Masukagami." Avaron then moved around so she was laying on top of Masukagami. The sekirei's heart began to pound inside her chest. She was precious?

"N-no... it's OK. You were... uhh..." Masukagami wanted to put her ashikabi at ease, but she really had no idea what she could say. She had no idea why Avaron had been so irritable.

"What does Masukagami want me to do to make up for it." Avaron placed her hands on Masukagami's chest, under her breasts, and sat up; her legs now straddling Masukagami's waist. It took the startled sekirei a few moments to start thinking straight, again, before she could even begin to think of an answer. It was like a fantasy come true. Of course if this followed the path of her fantasies... they were going to need whipped cream.

"Uh... uh... uh..." OK, so she was still a little dazed.

"You like kisses, right?"

"Uh-huh." Masukagami gave a small nod, for now content to just let Avaron take this where she wanted to. She readily accepted Avaron's kiss as she leaned down, the floor beneath them moments later becoming bathed in blue light as Masukagami's body reacted. She gasped when Avaron's kiss moved from her lips to her neck. "A-Avaron-sama," she mumbled breathlessly, her heart now threatening to burst right out of her chest. This gave a whole new meaning to the phrase "kiss and make up." Suddenly Avaron stopped.

"You were really embarrassing me you know."

"What?" Masukagami panted.

"All those perverted outfits you made me wear." Apparently Avaron had been quite aware, or at least had figured out, what Masukagami had been going for.

"I-I-"

"Is this what you wanted?" Masukagami's jaw fell open when Avaron reached down to start taking her dress off. Part of her never quite forgave herself for what she did next.

"A-Avaron-sama, stop!" She reached up and grabbed Avaron's wrists right as the hem of her dress was being lifted past her navel.

"What's wrong? Too soon?" Avaron smirked in amusement.

"Why are you doing this? This isn't like you," Masukagami argued gently. She was quite concerned now that she'd regained her wits, if only a little.

"You don't know what I'm like. You don't know anything about me," Avaron replied. Her eyes showed she only wanted Masukagami to let go of her wrists so she could keep going.

"Th-then tell me. I want to know about my ashikabi-sama." Masukagami propped herself up on her elbows, though Avaron was still upon her so she couldn't sit up any further. Avaron's hands let go, letting her dress drop back down.

"Fine," Avaron mumbled. Her strange bout of hedonistic energy seemed to be over. She got off of Masukagami and headed back to her room, the sekirei following closely. Once both were seated on Avaron's bed, the young woman began speaking. "I was locked away because my mother didn't want me anymore."

**. . .**

"What?" Masukagami seemed shocked to hear this. "Wh-why would anyone not want you?"

"I hurt someone. They deserved it, so ugly, but no one understood!" Avaron's face contorted into rage. Just thinking about that moment, that person, filled her with the blackest, most vile hatred. "They were ugly so I took a knife, beautiful, sharp... and I hurt him." Masukagami gasped upon hearing this.

"Wh-why? Wh-what did he do?"

"Made me cry. Made mother cry." Her hands balled into tight fists. Her nails dug in, painfully, but she ignored it. "I saved mother, but she didn't understand. She screamed at me, ugly words, and sent me away." Her voice began to shake. "Ugly words, cutting me like I cut _him._" She spoke in a throaty growl now.

"Ashikabi-sama." Avaron stiffened when she felt Masukagami's hands on her wrists. She hadn't even noticed that the sekirei was now kneeling at the foot of the bed before her. Masukagami tenderly opened Avaron's hands, revealing bloody palms cut open by her own nails. There were old scars on her palms showing that this was not the first time she'd closed her fists so tightly, but clearly no one had been there to stop her before. "I won't let anyone make my ashikabi-sama cry ever again." Avaron felt a strange sensation wash over her as Masukagami moved closer to pull her into a hug.

She felt safe.

**. . .**

She didn't want Sukaime around her, but yet she was the only other person around at the moment. Benitsubasa couldn't even go see Madoka yet because he didn't get out of work for another three hours. That meant about two more hours of mind numbing boredom before Benitsubasa could even go to walk him home if she wanted to.

She decided it wouldn't be a bad idea. After all, Sukaime didn't know where he worked nor did she know his work schedule yet. It was something she could hold over her head.

She was brought out of her thoughts when she felt the couch shake slightly. She realized it was because Sukaime was leaning heavily against the back of the couch, her arms draped over it.

"What now?" Benitsubasa glanced at the other sekirei. She'd enjoyed the hours of peace and quiet on the couch. OK, so that wasn't true, but she had enjoyed the lack of Sukaime.

"So... bored..." Sukaime groaned. Benitsubasa had to repress a grin at this. Sukaime was finally showing weakness. "How can you do this every day?"

"I'm used to it," Benitsubasa lied. To be honest, she had had a similar moment not too long ago when the nauseating boredom of sitting alone waiting for Madoka had nearly driven her mad. Despite that, she felt no sympathy towards the competition for Madoka's affection.

"Really? You don't strike me as the patient type."

"Well, uh, if it's Madoka-kun I'm willing to wait forever." Benitsubasa really had to learn how to lie better. She was starting to annoy herself.

"Hm. Are you a secret romantic?" Sukaime smiled and raised a curious eyebrow.

"Are you saying you wouldn't wait for him? He's your ashikabi too."

"Of course I would, but you're avoiding the question."

"So does that make you a romantic?"

"Yes, but I'm plenty about it."

"Yeah? I thought you were just being openly _slutty."_

"Stop calling me that."

"Make me. Slut."

"I told you it doesn't bother me."

"Then why ask me to stop?" This time Sukaime chuckled and grinned at Benitsubasa's response.

"Ah, good for you Benitsubasa-chan, you do have some cleverness in that brutish mind of yours." At this, Benitsubasa was torn. On one hand it seemed she'd gotten Sukaime to admit she was annoyed by being called a slut – on the other hand she'd just been insulted.

"Yeah, well... grr." Her own eloquence amazed her; her lack of it that was.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I guess that was a backhanded compliment. Did I confuse you with it? Poor Beni-chan." Sukaime pouted and patted Benitsubasa on the head.

"You have five seconds."

"Wh-"

"Four."

"What happens-"

"Three."

"-when you get to-"

"Two."

"-one?"

"You're about to find out." Benitsubasa growled through bared teeth.

"Right then." Sukaime sighed and strolled out of the room, looking bored again. "It always reverts to violence with you. Such a brute."

"YOU'D BETTER RUN!" Benitsubasa roared after Sukaime and pushed herself up as Sukaime and her seemingly always swaying hips rounded the corner out of the room. Sukaime did not run.

**. . .**

Finally Benitsubasa could leave and go meet up with Madoka to walk him home. She headed for the door, but perhaps she should have expected Sukaime to make her presence known once more.

"Whatcha doin'?" Sukaime asked innocently.

"Getting some fresh air," Benitsubasa replied with a frown.

"Aren't you the one who said going out was a bad idea?"

"You're right. Next time I won't stop you from getting out of my face." Benitsubasa rolled her eyes. In hindsight, she really should have just let Sukaime leave... and hoped she never came back.

"So mean, so mean," Sukaime sighed and placed a hand on her hips while shaking her head.

"Well then, I'll do you a favor and remove my mean, mean self from your presence." Sukaime gave one of her infuriating giggles in response.

"Keep it up. One day you might be just as good at wordplay as I am. That was a good one!"

"Go die in a fire." Benitsubasa walked out the door, slamming it behind her.

**. . .**

"I can't stand her! She never shuts up! She always knows exactly what to say to piss me off!" Benitsubasa clung to Madoka's arm. She was in a very bad mood, so Madoka had decided to let her cling just this once. It wasn't like not letting her would make her stop trying to earn his affection, after all.

"Well, then maybe you should stop baiting her," Madoka suggested. He knew from experience that Benitsubasa was quite the hothead and he was almost certain that she was unknowingly giving Sukaime bucket-loads of proverbial ammo.

"I don't bait her! She just takes anything I say and twists it!" Exactly as he'd suspected.

"Well... I'd say stop talking to her, but you two have to learn to coexist. You can't do that in absolute silence." Madoka shook his head. Why couldn't he have gotten better behaved sekirei? "Don't argue with her if you can help it. She probably finds it fun."

"I hadn't noticed." Benitsubasa's words were laced with sarcasm.

"Then why argue?"

"It's not that easy! You don't have to deal with it because she likes you! Worthless little wh-"

"Benitsubasa," Madoka scolded her preemptively.

"She is!"

"What if it was reversed? If 'd winged you second, would you just let her have me all to herself?" Madoka looked down at her questioningly.

"She does other things to earn the name," Benitsubasa muttered.

"Like?"

"Nothing I want to say out loud. It would probably taint my soul."

"Right." Madoka chuckled mirthlessly. If it wasn't for the fact that he knew Benitsubasa wanted to take physical vengeance against Sukaime, he'd find this little feud funny. That said, his influence was the only thing stopping a bloodbath. It was actually quite unsettling when he thought about it.

"Let's stop talking about the... her," Benitsubasa corrected herself this time. "It's just us, so let's focus on us!" She pressed herself closer to him as they walked. Madoka laughed at this. This _was_ funny to him; watching the impatient and short tempered Benitsubasa switch gears to a more cuddly persona.

"And how do you propose we go about focusing on 'us?'"

"We-"

"I told you they'd be here, Avaron-sama!" The voice was vaguely familiar. Madoka quickly remembered it being the voice of Masukagami, the sekirei of their new "ally." He just hoped Avaron planned on keeping things civil, as she herself had suggested.

"Oh for fuc-" Benitsubasa was not pleased.

"Calm down, please," Madoka interrupted her before she could finish her vulgarly constructed sentence. He didn't need her starting a fight, verbal or otherwise.

He then sighed; he really needed a new route home. This one was getting too exciting. He looked over at Avaron and Masukagami, who were in a similar but opposite position to them in that it was Avaron who was clinging to her sekirei instead of the other way around. However, at this point Benitsubasa had let go of Madoka's arm and was on edge in the presence of another sekirei.

"We were lonely and I thought maybe it would be a good chance to get to know each other better if we're going to be friends," Avaron finally spoke her reason for intercepting them.

"Friends?" Madoka crossed his arms at her choice of words. "That suggests more than just an agreement to not attack each other."

"I'm in a good mood today," Avaron replied and leaned against Masukagami more heavily.

"I see. That's good I suppose," Madoka said in a low voice. He wasn't sure if he believed her, but he didn't want to turn her away if she was honest.

"Why should we trust you?" Benitsubasa, of course.

"Dammit," Madoka groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Why are you so mean?" Masukagami pouted, looking confused. Madoka had a feeling that Avaron's sekirei was a little naïve.

"Let me do the talking, please?" Madoka placed a hand on Benitsubasa's shoulder and motioned with his head for her to step back.

"Fine. Just don't embarrass me by doing anything stupid," Benitsubasa relented, much to Madoka's relief. One could practically _taste_ the tension in the air when she got riled up.

"Of course, your pride is my primary concern at all times." Madoka curtsied teasingly.

"Stop acting like _her._" Benitsubasa gave him a look of warning.

"Sorry, she's just looking out for me. You understand?" Madoka turned his attention back to Avaron.

"I do." Avaron glanced at Masukagami when she spoke. "But it's silly to stand around on the side of the road while the sun is setting. Is there somewhere we can talk?"

"Err, we could go to my place, I guess," Madoka suggested. He was a little nervous about bringing them to where he lived, but he had no better ideas. He heard Benitsubasa's palm collide with her face behind him.

"That works."

**. . .**

"Welcome home!" Sukaime exclaimed as the door opened. She then paused before speaking again. "Oh. Company?"

"Yes." Benitsubasa pushed past her, not intending to entertain their guests. She was _not_ happy about this. Not terminating Masukagami when they first met was bad enough, but inviting them over? This was too far. While she felt she had to concede to Madoka's wishes, she hoped he knew what he was doing.

She made her way to Madoka's room, in the back of the house where she hoped no one would bother her. That was true for five whole minutes before someone knocked on the door.

"If you're not Madoka, go away," Benitsubasa warned whoever it was. She hoped the tone of her voice would make it clear that whoever it was should listen.

"That's interesting, his door doesn't have a lock!" Even before the door opened, Benitsubasa was able to identify the intruder as Sukaime, her second most hated person in the world.

"I will break you." If only looks could kill, then Sukaime would be out of her hair.

"Aww, that's mean!" Sukaime whined, but she was smiling as usual. How Benitsubasa longed to rip that smile off her face.

"I'm not in the mood. I _will_ hurt you." Benitsubasa stepped towards Sukaime, her face broadcasting malevolence.

"H-hey, calm down." Sukaime raised her hands and actually took a step back. Benitsubasa wanted to smile; it felt good to see her scared, but she didn't want to ruin the moment.

"You should leave." Benitsubasa kept walking forward, causing Sukaime to continue her retreat... until she hit the wall. Benitsubasa took the opportunity to trap her, placing a hand on the wall next to Sukaime's face. Maybe she didn't want her to leave after all. Maybe she wanted to drink in the fear that Sukaime was exuding.

"So, err, what do you think of Avaron and Masukagami?" Sukaime tried to change the subject.

"Hate them. They put me in a bad mood." Benitsubasa flexed her hand, causing her nails to dig into the wall. Sukaime noticed and her eyes widened a little.

**. . .**

Sukaime decided that talking about their guests while Benitsubasa was like this was a bad idea. She was starting to think she'd gone too far with Benitsubasa. If she didn't do something soon, she had the feeling that living with Benitsubasa might become more like just surviving. That would not be fun.

Then again, maybe the subject of Avaron and Masukagami _could_ work in her favor.

"But why? Masukagami belongs to Avaron; she's not going to steal Madoka," Sukaime pried into the subject. Get Benitsubasa thinking about them, and not her, and maybe her anger would go elsewhere.

"She doesn't belong here, Madoka should let me terminate her." Benitsubasa moved her hand. That had worked surprisingly fast. "And Avaron... bothers me. Something is wrong with her." She crossed her arms and looked at the floor. Sukaime frowned at this; she had also noticed something, but now she had a reason to really pay attention to Avaron.

"Hm, so you're being territorial."

"Don't say it like I'm an animal." Benitsubasa rounded on Sukaime, once again projecting malign intent.

"Ah, but you do like to bark!" Sukaime smiled after that. It wasn't a happy smile. It was an "oh shit, why did I just say that, please don't hurt me" smile. She just couldn't help herself, though. Benitsubasa made things too easy for her.

**. . .**

"I see you have another sekirei now?" Avaron mentioned. They'd been sitting in the same room for a while, but the conversation hadn't been flowing too well.

"It wasn't planned, I assure you." Another pause in the conversation. "So, uh, how has it been for you out there?" Madoka asked from his place leaning against the wall. He'd given Avaron and her sekirei the couch.

"What's that su-" Avaron began to frown, but Masukagami interrupted.

"G-good! We ran into some other sekirei, but I took care of them," the sekirei laughed nervously. Strange.

"Really? Yeah, us too." Madoka nodded.

"They cheated and made it a two on one, but I beat them easily!" the sekirei smiled.

"You... don't say." Just how strong was Masukagami? That made him nervous. Now he _really_ hoped Avaron planned to keep things civil.

"Their ashikabi was a jerk though. He tried to touch Avaron-sama, but I scared him away!" Masukagami scowled at the memory. Madoka had trouble picturing Masukagami being scary.

"I see. Well I guess I'm glad you won," Madoka replied, but turned his attention to Avaron. "You said you wanted to get to know each other better, right? Did you have anything in mind, or should we just play 20 questions?"

"Why don't we just talk and see where it goes?" Avaron smiled. He almost wanted to say she smiled flirtatiously. She was giving off strange vibes, just like when he first met her. Her personality seemed to at least be more stable this time, but she gave off a sense of serenity that was unusual. It was more like the calm before a storm than a true sense of peace. Maybe that was just his own nerves speaking though.

"Talking it is." He shrugged. It was a good a place to start as any, though it wasn't like it had been going so smoothly thus far.

"How about... how did you meet your sekirei?" Avaron leaned forward, looking genuinely interested.

"Well, Benitsubasa found me. She walked into the store I work at one day, but she freaked out and ran away. Ran into her the next day and she dragged me into an alley to explain what she was." Madoka gave her the short version. "I don't suppose your meeting with Masukagami is more spectacular than that?" He chuckled. When he said it like that, his meeting with Benitsubasa wasn't anything that belonged in an inspiring movie or book. He noticed that Avaron hesitated to answer, and then avoided it altogether.

"You have two sekirei," she reminded him.

"Right. Well, we rescued Sukaime from an ashikabi she didn't want to be winged by. I had to wing her so she could save Benitsubasa from the sekirei of the other ashikabi." He was glad Benitsubasa wasn't there at the moment. She probably wouldn't appreciate him telling others how she needed to be saved, especially by Sukaime. In hindsight, he felt a little guilty just talking about her while she wasn't present.

"Aww, you're a hero!" Masukagami clapped her hands. "See, he's a nice ashikabi just like you!" She turned to Avaron.

"N-no. I'm not that good... it sounds like you've done much more than I have as an ashikabi. I'm a little jealous." She shifted in her seat uncomfortably, suddenly finding her own knees very interesting and not looking at anyone else.

"Well, I'm sure there are better than me. That's not really the example you should judge me by. It's the exception in my opinion." Madoka sighed. He recalled how he'd treated Benitsubasa after winging her.

"Avaron-sama, no! You're the best ashikabi I could have asked for!" Masukagami scooted over to sit as close to her ashikabi as she could. She then glanced at Madoka. "You shouldn't look down on yourself either. Just look at Benitsubasa's eyes the next time you see her." She giggled happily about something. Madoka wasn't sure what she was getting at, but he had to admit he was curious. As a sekirei, had the girl picked up on something he hadn't?

"Maybe we should change the subject," Madoka forced a nervous smile. This topic was getting awkward. He hadn't missed that Avaron seemed to be trying to hide something, but he had no desire to pry. Hopefully a new topic would avoid the issue.

**. . .**

"OW! OW! OW! Stop hitting me-hee-heeee!" Sukaime whined and laughed at the same time.

"Well you shouldn't have thrown a pillow at me!" Benitsubasa brought the pillow down on Sukaime's head with a merciless vengeance.

"I give in! You win! I'm sorry!" Sukaime tried to fend off the blows as she surrendered.

"Good." Benitsubasa dropped the pillow and put her hands on her hips as she smirked victoriously.

"Ugh, you hit too hard!" Sukaime complained and rolled onto her back to look up at her attacker.

"Deal with it." Benitsubasa turned away. "I'm gonna go see if they're gone yet." She got about two feet before Sukaime snatched up the pillow and slammed it into the back of her head with all her strength.

"SUCKER!" Sukaime cackled madly and dashed out of the room first. "Hahah- OOF!" She was knocked off her feet and onto her rear roughly as something got in her way. She shook her rattled head and looked up to see Avaron scowling at her. Madoka and Masukagami were next to her. "S-sorry."

"It's OK," Avaron spoke, suddenly smiling and holding out her hand to help her up. "Were you having fun?"

"I guess so." She took the offered hand. "Might be short live-"

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Benitsubasa burst out of the room a moment later, looking angry enough to do exactly that.

"Is it always this lively here?" Avaron glanced at Madoka.

"Only when Sukaime provokes her." Sukaime laughed nervously when Madoka looked at her after speaking. "What did you do this time?"

"Nothing worth being killed over!" She quickly hid behind her ashikabi. She knew that Benitsubasa would listen to him. She was a good dog.

"She-" Benitsubasa started to speak, but Madoka raised his hand.

"Enough, you two, it's late. I don't need the headache that whatever petty squabble you two were having will cause." Madoka scowled at her. Sukaime took the chance to stick out her tongue while Madoka couldn't see, causing Benitsubasa to bare her teeth, but she seemed more concerned with Madoka's scolding at the moment.

"Fine," she relented.

"Also, because it's late, I'm letting our guests sleep over. They'll be taking my roo-"

"What? No! Too far! I-" She was once again cut off by en even sharper gesture from Madoka's hand.

"Sorry about that, why don't you two head on in. You don't need to stand and watch us argue," Madoka apologized. Sukaime could actually see Benitsubasa turning redder and redder from sheer fury.

**. . .**

After Avaron and Masukagami had been moved into a separate room, they moved to the living room. Benitsubasa was more than a little displeased. She had been planning to worm her way into Madoka's bed again that night, this time perhaps with no divider of pillows. Her hopes were now dashed, and by another sekirei/ashikabi pair. She should be terminating Masukagami, not giving up her spot in bed to her!

"This is stupid," she grumbled and glared at Madoka. Her anger had already faded to a low boil, so she didn't feel like screaming. That didn't, however, mean she wasn't going to voice her feelings on the matter.

"Deal with it. Maybe you want to terminate every sekirei you see, but I think this entire plan is stupid. If they don't want to fight, I'm fine with that. I'm pretty sure you already know how I feel, so I don't want to hear you complain about them anymore!" Madoka argued. She was surprised how much it hurt to have him completely shut her down like that. She should be angry, angry that he disagreed with her, angry that he wasn't listening to her. Instead she just felt her shoulders sag.

"If you say so," was all she could bring herself to say in reply.

"So uh, where do we all sleep?" Sukaime changed the subject. For the first time ever, Benitsubasa was actually glad to hear her voice. It was a valid question.

"The way I see it one of us gets the couch and the other two sleep on the floor with a spare blanket," Madoka replied.

"Aww, we can all fit on the couch if we really work at it!"

"No. If I get it, I'm not sharing, if Benitsubasa gets it, she won't share with you, and if you get it it's the same problem."

"You take it then, we'll use the floor." Benitsubasa saw both of them glance at her in surprise. She had basically just given up comfort and Madoka and resigned to share the floor with Sukaime, so she understood why.

"Well, that makes it easy. Any complaints?" Madoka looked at Sukaime.

"No. I'm used to sleeping on the cold, hard ground! I was out there for days, weeks!" Sukaime swooned dramatically. "A blanketed floor is heaven by comparison. I'll even have Benitsubasa to keep me warm."

"Touch me and you start losing limbs," Benitsubasa warned in a low monotone.

"I think she's cranky." That... was an understatement.

* * *

><p><strong>Wow. That was one <strong>_**hell**_** of a Monday. Yes, this entire chapter took place all in one day.**

**So it seems Masukagami is ownage in a cute lil' bottle. Also, Avaron is fucking bat shit crazy, but we already knew that. She wasn't in a **_**straight jacket**_** for nothing my friends. At least Masukagami is there to comfort her. So adorable... and sad... but adorable.**

**(Fixed up in batch two of my edits.)**

**Til' next time!**


	7. I Hate Sleepovers

**I Hate Sleepovers**

Benitsubasa felt cold, but there was warmth nearby. She rolled towards it and snuggled close before letting herself drift back into her slumber. She woke for good about 20 minutes later and realized that something about her source of warmth was not right.

"Good morning, dear." It was Sukaime. Benitsubasa was then tenderly kissed on the forehead.

"Maaah!" Benitsubasa groaned groggily and swatted at Sukaime before quickly crawling away.

"Mah? What does that mean?" Sukaime giggled sleepily. It seemed she had only recently awoken as well.

"Shut it... you..." Once she was fully awake she'd ream Sukaime more intelligently. "Why am I even sleeping on the floor with you?" She asked the question, but remembered the answer herself. "Oh... right..."

"Yep. Kicked out of our beds by intruders and, before you could bark and make them go away, Madoka-kun yanked on your leash!" Sukaime grinned. She was lucky Benitsubasa was still too groggy to beat her senseless.

"Stupid slut," she muttered to herself. She wasn't sure who she was referring to this time. A pang of hunger hitting her, she forgot Sukaime and got to her feet, making her way to the kitchen to raid the cabinets for breakfast. As she leaned against the counter shoving dry cereal into her mouth, a habit she'd picked up since living there, she heard someone walk in. The footsteps were too loud to be Sukaime, so it had to be someone bigger. Besides, she was pretty sure Sukaime walked quietly with the express intent of sneaking up on her.

She was right, for when she looked she saw Avaron. She was tempted to just leave the room, but her curiosity got the best of her. She'd never really bothered to really look at Avaron, and she'd never directly spoken to her; not that she'd had much of a chance to.

"Good morning... Benitsubasa was it?" Avaron greeted her.

"Yes." She decided not to return the greeting, but Avaron either didn't notice or didn't care. Avaron was taller by a few inches at least. At least a head taller, maybe a bit more. Her figure was thin, but in an unflattering way as if she didn't eat enough.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"You can. Doesn't mean I'll answer though," Benitsubasa replied, and turned away, not bothering to meet Avaron's eyes. They bothered her anyway. That icy blue color only seemed to add to Avaron's unsettling aura, even if her current demeanor seemed perfectly pleasant.

"What's it like being a sekirei?"

"Can you be more specific?"

"Emotionally. Having an ashikabi, what is it like?"

"Why do you want to know? You're not a sekirei, you don't need to know what it's like." Benitsubasa thought it was a stupid question.

"But I have a sekirei. I want to understand her." Avaron's reasoning made Benitsubasa pause. She was almost jealous. This woman wanted to understand her sekirei better, and was making an effort. Madoka was nicer now, and he'd said he'd try to understand her more, but she couldn't recall a single noticeable effort from him. All right she was entirely jealous.

"Have you ever loved anyone?" Benitsubasa posed her own question.

"I don't know. I want to say I love Masukagami, but I don't think I'm worthy to say that yet. I cherish her though..." Her words stuck like knives, stabbing in deep. Would Madoka ever say something like that?

"I guess... as a sekirei with an ashikabi, it's like being a slave, but walking up to your master and begging to have your collar put on because you want that knowledge that they're willing to own you. Then you just hope they're not a cruel master." Well, that was Benitsubasa's twisted view of it. Saying out loud was strange though. She was s little bothered by her own wording. Did she really see her life as being like that of a slave's?

"I-I see..." Avaron seemed just as perturbed at Benitsubasa's explanation as she herself was.

"That... probably wasn't the best explanation. E-each sekirei probably sees it differently. Ask yours, she'll give you the answer you really want. You want to understand her, not me," Benitsubasa vented her embarrassment on Avaron and shot a red-faced glare at the ashikabi.

"Yes, of course, you're right. Thank you." Avaron smiled. It felt weird having another sekirei's ashikabi be nice to her.

"Whatever." Benitsubasa hunched over, trying to project just how much she wanted to be alone right then. Whether or not Avaron got the hint, Benitsubasa got what she wanted.

"I'm going to guess Madoka is still asleep. I'll be waiting in the bedroom." Obviously Avaron meant nothing by that, but the wording annoyed Benitsubasa. It was so... suggestive.

**. . .**

Madoka woke up in a confused state. This was not his bed. He calmed down upon seeing he was at least still in his house. He looked to his left and nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Aww, did I scare you?" It was only Sukaime, though she'd been staring at him intently from a kneeling position beside the couch. "At least you didn't hit me!" Madoka just raised an eyebrow at that.

"Oh... right... you live here now." He sighed tiredly.

"I've been here a whole day! Aren't you used to me yet?" Sukaime cocked her head to the side and pouted.

"I'm not even used to Benitsubasa to be honest," Madoka groaned and sat up. He then remembered why he had been sleeping on the couch. "Ah shit," he said under his breath and moved to get up. He was not exactly a social butterfly, so having a strange girl sleep over was a situation he wasn't sure how to deal with. It was also a work day.

"Oh, you're awake," he heard Benitsubasa say and looked over to see her walk into the room. "She's waiting for you 'in the bedroom,'" she said in a suggestive, and incredibly annoyed, voice.

"Wh-"

"Her words, not mine." Her already present scowl only grew.

"Right then. How's my hai-"

"Get them out of here!" Benitsubasa must have picked on the fact that he was teasing her.

"That's the plan." He raised his hands in capitulation and headed to his bedroom to see to his guests. It felt strange to have to knock on his own door. He didn't have to wait long for it to open at least.

"Ah, Madoka-san, you're awake. Good morning," Avaron greeted him with a smile.

"Morning. Did I keep you waiting long?"

"Not at all. Thank you for letting us sleep here. It's a long enough walk home that I didn't fancy doing it at night. Too many ugly people."

"Ugly?"

"She means mean people like the ones who double-teamed me!" Masukagami chimed in to clarify.

"Wh- Oh, the sekirei fight you mentioned. Right," Madoka cleared his throat nervously.

"Y-yeah..." Masukagami blushed upon realizing how embarrassingly poor her choice of words had been.

"I suppose we'll leave soon. There must be somewhere we can eat nearby," Avaron took back control of the conversation from Masukagami.

"Yeah, but you can eat here if you don't want to wait... not that I have anything as good as what you'd find at a restaurant," Madoka offered. He'd said he was getting rid of them, but he supposed the whole plan had been to make friends. Thankfully it ended up not mattering.

**. . .**

"Thank you, but I don't want to impose," Avaron answered him. Madoka's house suddenly felt much too small and she wanted, needed, some fresh air. She didn't care where she was went, so long as she kept moving.

"All right." Madoka shrugged. "There's a few places nearby..." He gave them directions and then showed them to the door.

"Thank you again for letting us sleep here. We don't live that far away, but I wasn't looking forward to a walk in the dark," Avaron said as they stood at the door.

"No problem, though to be honest I hope it doesn't become a habit. This place isn't big enough," Madoka responded with a weak smile.

"I know! Our place _is _big enough! You should sleep over with us, then we'll know where each other lives!" Masukagami suggested in her usual cheerful manner.

"Err, well I have to work today, I-"

"It's OK, we can meet you in the same spot!"

"Bu-"

"It's a date!"

"Masukagami, you can't decide for him," Avaron poked her sekirei on the cheek.

"Well I'm not afraid of the dark, so I can at least visit I guess. Err, I know Masukagami's OK with it, but..." Madoka caved to the excited sekirei's desires.

"Of course, I don't have anything to do anyway," Avaron was genuinely pleased. Masukagami was changing her life. She wondered if Masukagami was smarter than she looked and all this was part of some plan. Regardless, she was grateful. "I suppose I'll be going now." Avaron stepped out the door. Just as Madoka was closing it though, she turned around. "One last thing," she said and caught his hand, pulling him part way out the door. Once he was close enough, she leaned up to kiss his cheek. She and her sekirei then left, leaving Madoka frozen in shock in the doorway.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa saw that Madoka had leaned out the doorway right as Avaron was supposed to be leaving. She had seen enough, even with her vision obscured by the door and Madoka's back, to know that _something_ had happened. Madoka's expression after closing the door only strengthened her case.

"What the hell was that?" she shouted upon seeing his face.

"What the hell was what?" he replied.

"What happened right there? Something happened, you hesitated before closing the door!" she accused him angrily. She would get to the bottom of this, whatever it was. Sukaime's amused giggles in the background only made her more suspicious. She figured Sukaime was the kind of person who always knew more than she was letting on. It fit with her personality.

"Nothing happened. She just wanted to make sure we both had the same idea in mind for where and when we would meet," he waved her suspicions off.

"About that, what the hell are you thinking? We don't need to spend _more_ time with the enem-"

"They're not the enemy."

"Yes they are. Sooner or later we'll have no choice to fight them, you can't get attached to them!"

"She has a point," Sukaime added in.

"You're not helping," Madoka said to the obnoxious, in Benitsubasa's mind, sekirei.

"See, even the... _she_ knows better!" Benitsubasa had no desire to _not_ insult Sukaime, but she wanted to keep Madoka focused on the issue and not her choice of words. Also having Sukaime on her side for the moment didn't hurt.

"You can come with me if that's what's bothering you. They know where we live, would you feel better if you knew where they lived?" Madoka's offer made Benitsubasa pause. She doubted she could change his mind, he was stubborn, but at the very least she could take advantage of the situation. Maybe if she caused a little trouble she could even cut the visit short. Sure she'd get scolded but it would be worth it.

"Fine," she agreed.

"Huh, you're easy," Sukaime chimed in, actually sounding a little surprised rather than purely mocking.

"I get to spend time with Madoka, so-"

"She can come too," Madoka added in, immediately crushing Benitsubasa's hopes.

"Did I do something to piss you off or what?" Benitsubasa turned to face her ashikabi accusingly.

"No. Contrary to your apparent beliefs, just because I do something you don't approve of doesn't mean I'm doing it to spite you. You just happen to disapprove of a lot of the things I do recently. You'll just just have to get over it."

"RRRRRAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" she screamed. She couldn't help it, it had been building up for over a day now. When she stopped, panting heavily, she saw that Madoka hadn't even flinched. Instead, he was just staring at her; into her eyes to be specific. After a few seconds she felt her face grow hot and she had to look away. "Wh-what?" Why was he doing that?

"Huh... nothing. Anyway, I have to get ready for work." She was left red-faced and confused as he walked off.

**. . .**

Normally, meeting Madoka after work brought her joy, but today it mostly brought Benitsubasa dread. It didn't help that she was mad at her ashikabi. She was also mad at herself for being mad at her ashikabi. Lastly, she was mad that she had to be mad because of her ashikabi. It was a vicious cycle.

Also, Sukaime was there.

"If they're late I'll kill them," she growled as they walked to the meeting spot.

"Really? I'd have thought the less time around them the better for you," was Sukaime's response.

"If we have to do this, they can at least be punctual! I don't want to wait around on a sidewalk because of them!"

"Fair enough." Sukaime shrugged, not seeming to care one way or the other.

It turned out that Avaron and Masukagami were waiting when they got there, so she lost her excuse to kill them. Somehow though, she was pretty sure Madoka wouldn't have let her anyway. He was starting to frustrate her. Well, he'd _started _to frustrate her a while ago.

"You're here, good. Shall we get going?" Avaron seemed as friendly as ever. Somehow it just made Benitsubasa more angry.

**. . .**

"Yeah, lead the way," Madoka replied to the other ashikabi. He had to admit, now that he was actually there, this didn't seem like a bad idea. He'd been hesitant that morning when Masukagami had suggested it, at least partly because he'd predicted Benitsubasa's blow-up over the situation, but now he was almost excited. He wondered if the kiss on the cheek had anything to do with it. He had been thinking about it on and off all day, uncertain as to why she'd done it. Was she flirting with him? Was it just part of her personality? He supposed he'd find out eventually.

There wasn't much conversation on the way there, not unless one counted listening to the incredibly bubbly sekirei, Masukagami, ramble at everyone a conversation. He supposed Benitsubasa's glares could have been considered a response, not that Masukagami noticed. Or at the very least she didn't seem to care.

As their walk continued, he started wondering what kind of place this girl lived in. He wouldn't be finding out anytime soon though, they only made it about half way. Apparently it wasn't the route home that was cursed – it was him.

"Kouji-kun, I think they're sekirei." The moment Madoka heard that he felt the blood leave his face. No, he wasn't scared necessarily, but he really didn't want a fight right now. Or... ever.

"All three?" a boy who must have been Kouji responded to the first voice.

"Yeah. Just look at them. That one even has a weapon, see?" The first voice belonged to a rather shapely girl whose outfit went up to her breasts and then abruptly stopped, leaving her cleavage and shoulders bare. The red outfit also left her back exposed. The bottom was a bit better, having white cloth covering the front and back, but it left the side of her hips mostly exposed. Somehow, it still seemed more decent that Sukaime's outfit, even if it was more revealing...

"What are you thinking, Namiji? You'd be outnumbered! You aren't suggesting-"

"I have to, and if it's for you, I'll definitely win." Dammit, it seemed she really did want to fight.

"I hope you girls are ready, I don't think we're getting out of this one-" Madoka began, but Benitsubasa didn't let him finish.

"Finally! I'm gonna kill her. Everyone just stay out of my way!" the small, pink-haired sekirei jumped forward taking a fighting stance. "You're gonna eat your words after I shove them back down your throat with my foot!" she ranted at Namiji. The fact that the taller, curvier sekirei was now brandishing a _massive_ halberd didn't seem to deter her. It probably should have, in Madoka's opinion.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa was being an idiot as usual, but Sukaime was content to sit back and watch the show. Of course she'd step in if she felt she had to. As nice as it would be to have Madoka all to herself, she felt it would be too boring without Benitsubasa around. She was just too cute and funny to be terminated yet.

The show began startlingly with Namiji swinging her weapon despite nobody being in range. Sukaime wasn't sure if it was a show of force to intimidate them, or if she was trying to throw Benitsubasa off balance, but the swing blew up a gust of wind that forced them to cover their eyes lest debris fly into them.

She uncovered her eyes in time to see that Namiji had rushed at Benitsubasa while the other sekirei was distracted and was winding up a swing that _would_ hit if Benitsubasa didn't move. Fortunately she did move and back-flipped away from the attack.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa decided a little caution might be warranted after Namiji had nearly knocked her off her feet without even touching her. She was still confident she'd win, though. After her back-flip, she landed, coiled to attack, and sprung back towards Namiji, hoping to catch her before she could bring her heavy weapon around again. She barely made it under the range of the halberd and Namiji was forced to try and back away to line up a third swing.

Benitsubasa had no plans to allow Namiji the room she needed. Her plan was to break every rib in her body and then work her way out to bigger bones until Namiji was either terminated or couldn't move – and _then_ she'd terminate her. Her plan was put on hold when it turned out Namiji still had enough room to jab with the spiked butt of her halberd. The spike's point didn't hit home, but the side of it still flew into Benitsubasa's cheek, knocking her away and back into the halberd's optimal range.

She turned to face Namiji again, thinking she was ready for anything, but her eyes widened when she saw the blade was already moving to cut her wide open. Her last thought was nothing, simply in stunned disbelief that what she was seeing was happening.

Metal hit... metal?

She'd flinched, shutting her eyes right before she thought she was about to die. When she opened them, Namiji's halberd was clashing with Sukaime's javelin which was levitating in mid-air.

"It won't hold forever! Move!" Sukaime yelled from behind her. Indeed the javelin was already wobbling and looking ready to drop to the ground. Benitsubasa didn't run, instead she ducked around both weapons and went back on the offensive. With the adrenaline her near termination had caused to be pumped into her system she felt like she could rip this girl in two with one hand. She couldn't have cared less that that didn't even make sense.

Before Namiji could try to disengage from the javelin, Benitsubasa slammed her fist into her gut, causing her to double over. She considered following up with a nice uppercut, maybe even go for an immediate knock-out blow, but she wanted to savor this fight a little and blow off some steam. So instead she punched her in the same spot again and again... and again... and again... and again...

She finished up that barrage with as hard a punch she could manage and actually felt a small tinge of ecstasy as she watched the wide-eyed girl sink to her knees, gasping for breath that wouldn't come as her body tried to recover from the brutalizing Benitsubasa had just given it.

Benitsubasa reached down and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look up into her eyes.

"Do you maybe think you're special? You think you're strong because you have that huge weapon? Because you have that _nice full body_?" Benitsubasa's face contorted. "You're nothing to me!" She decided that maybe taking to moment to talk down to her victim was a bad idea when the girl reached up and grabbed her offending arm.

"How do you think I swing that huge weapon around?" Namiji countered and rose to her feet, simultaneously yanking Benitsubasa up off her own. Benitsubasa cried out as she was then flung away and then found herself wondering when she'd actually land. Then she did. It hurt.

**. . .**

"Idiot!" Masukagami looked over to see Sukaime's face resting in her palm. Masukagami silently agreed with the short sekirei, but she wasn't one to spout insults.

"I'm going to go help, OK Avaron-sama?" she turned to her ashikabi.

"Go ahead. Be careful, please," Avaron responded with a nod and a smile.

"I will be!" Masukagami said, maybe a little too cheerfully, and rushed out towards Namiji. She unlatched her smaller mirror so it swung free and then snatched it up into her palm. She aimed it at the enemy sekirei who at that moment saw her coming. By pure luck, she raised her halberd defensively right where Masukagami had been aiming. Her mirror still remembered the shuriken attack and had sent out one translucent weapon towards Namiji.

The halberd user looked surprised when she felt something deflect off her weapon, but now she looked very cautious and took and even more defensive posture.

"Idiot, I said I'd handle this!" Benitsubasa was back on her feet and clutching her back. When her hand dropped away though, she charged recklessly at Namiji, Namiji who almost casually stepped aside and caught Benitsubasa's foot with the butt of her halberd, leaving the smaller sekirei comically hopping forward on one foot, trying catch her balance and not fall on her face. Namiji caught her instead and with the dull side of her halberd's top end. She slammed it into Benitsubasa's stomach and hefted her up into the air before using her halberd like a catapult to launch Benitsubasa flying at Masukagami.

Maybe Masukagami was too nice, but at that moment she decided to hold her arms out and try to catch Benitsubasa. She caught her and wrapped her arms around her, but she was unprepared for just how fast the girl had been flying as she careened into her back first. Masukagami was thrown off her feet and landed hard on her back, taking the brunt of the fall for both of them.

"A-are you OK?" she asked Benitsubasa, propping herself up on her elbows once she recovered. Benitsubasa at first only responded by going into a coughing fit, trying to catch her breath after having the wind violently knocked out of her when the halberd had been rammed into her stomach.

"I'm... I'm..." Benitsubasa's weak attempt at speaking was cut off by further coughing. "F-fine..." she finally managed to finish her sentence two seconds later.

**. . .**

"'Leave this to me, I'm a bad-ass!'" Sukaime said mockingly, referring to Benitsubasa, as she walked out onto the impromptu battlefield. "'I'm going to help because I'm sooo nice!'" she extended her mocking to Masukagami. "And now I have to save both of you. Well isn't this a _wonderful_ play-date!" For once, Sukaime was genuinely annoyed. Were those two _really _as incompetent as they seemed, or were they just having a bad day?

"I'm afraid you won't be saving anyone!" Namiji brandished her halberd in Sukaime's direction.

"Yeah, kick her ass too Namiji, you can do it!" Kouji cheered her on from the sidelines. A moment passed and then Sukaime shot an annoyed glared back at Madoka.

"What?" Madoka looked confused. Sukaime just sighed and turned back to her opponent.

"I'm surrounded by idiots," she muttered dejectedly to herself. She supposed all that was left to do was make Benitsubasa and Masukagami look bad and beat Namiji herself. With that in mind she raised her javelin and simply opened her hand. Without moving her arm at all the weapon flew at Namiji, but was swatted aside by the much larger halberd. What Namiji probably wasn't expecting was Sukaime to follow her weapon in. Before Namiji could pull her halberd back, Sukaime moved in close and... kicked her in the shin.

Namiji hissed in pain and awkwardly hopped back. Sukaime was already in motion, her javelin having returned to her hand. She ducked around behind the temporarily hobbled Namiji and took aim before jabbing the taller girl right in the rear.

"EEK!" Namiji stiffened and clutched at her buttocks. She spun around shooting a teary eyed glare at Sukaime that the javelin sekirei answered with a Cheshire cat grin. Her grin faded when she saw rage fill her opponents eyes before she hefted her halberd up high and then swung down with all her strength. Sukaime had to hop back quickly to avoid the blow that would have split her in half. Even though it missed, torn up asphalt still peppered her as the weapon shattered the ground on impact.

She didn't have time to worry about the stinging pain as Namiji burst out of the resulting dust cloud another swing prepared. Sukaime was worried for a moment, but she got over it – literally. She somersaulted over the swing and rolled out of it, ending up behind Namiji and swinging her javelin into the back of Namiji's knee. The pointy end didn't hit, but it still unbalanced the girl. She then back rolled right between Namiji's legs and then thrust her javelin up with both hands. The hand grip slammed into Namiji's chin and made her stumble back.

Sukaime grinned again before she decided to grab one end of her javelin and use it like a baseball bat. She swung it into Namiji's face, spinning her around. Sukaime had seen that Benitsubasa was back up and already charging in, and so had made a perfect opportunity for her fellow sekirei to throw a running punch right into Namiji's already abused face. At the same time Sukaime hit Namiji in the back of the leg with her javelin. The effect of their pincer attack was the back of Namiji's head slamming into the ground. With the halberd user down, Benitsubasa pinned her with her foot and Sukaime aimed one end of her javelin at her throat.

"Who gets to terminate her? I feel like I did most of the work, personally..." Sukaime glanced at Benitsubasa.

"I almost had her!" Benitsubasa argued back.

"Really? Is that why you managed to get airborne twice?"

"SLUT!"

"That's uncalled f-" At that moment Sukaime felt something grab her foot. She looked down in time to see that while they'd been arguing, Namiji had grabbed each of their ankles. She then pulled both of them off their feet before rolling backwards onto her own. "I'm willing to take some of the blame for this one." Sukaime groaned and glanced at Benitsubasa.

"You're still a slut," Benitsubasa shook her head and moved to get up. They weren't going to be given the time though, for Namiji had her halberd ready to decapitate them both in one swing. Right as she swung though, Masukagami got in the way, her mirror held out. The halberd hit the tiny mirror, but instead of shattering it the halberd jerked back and then flew out of Namiji's hands.

While Namiji was shocked at suddenly being disarmed, Sukaime caught Benitsubasa's eyes. Somehow she managed to get in sync with the normally spiteful sekirei, and both jumped up at the same time. Each tackled one of Namiji's legs and brought the girl down. Once she was on her back, disarmed and vulnerable, they made sure to pin her arms before immediately moving to finish her off.

"Namiji!" Kouji cried.

"Master..." Namiji shut her eyes against the incoming attacks that were sure to terminate her.

"WAIT!" Sukaime and Benitsubasa froze at Madoka's shout. Sukaime glanced at Benitsubasa in time to see the hot fury welling up inside her... this wasn't going to be pretty.

**. . .**

Madoka saw Benitsubasa's head slowly rotate until her burning, crimson eyes were staring into his. Her eye color suited her at the moment, because he was currently surprised that he hadn't been burnt to a crisp, or at least had his eyes melted out, by the anger her glare was projecting at him. He'd have to worry about the backlash from the more hot-headed of his two sekirei later though.

"You, Kouji was it?" he called to the enemy ashikabi.

"What do you want?" Kouji's voice held a mixture of anger and worry; obviously over the beaten and pinned state of his sekirei. Madoka was actually glad he felt that way.

"What I _don't_ want is to have to terminate your sekirei." This got Kouji's attention.

"You... what?"

"Look, you already can see that I'm working with another ashikabi. I don't agree with this sekirei plan, it's just a cruel, stupid game. I'd rather work with you than fight you. If we work together, maybe we can have a little peace and not have to watch our back every time we step outside," Madoka outlined his feelings to the other young man.

"Fine, then let Namiji go!"

"You heard the man. Let her up," Madoka said to his sekirei. Sukaime hung her head and shook it, but obeyed quickly. Benitsubasa hesitated, and then outright disobeyed.

"No! This is stupid! I'm termin-" she stopped with Sukaime's javelin was suddenly in her face.

"Obey our ashikabi or I'll poke an eye out," the girl said deadpan. Madoka sincerely hoped she was bluffing.

"Let her up," he said more sternly, wanting to avoid having his own sekirei fight each other next.

"Dammit!" Benitsubasa swore and let Namiji go before stomping off to the side. He saw Kouji let out a held breath at that. The feeling was mutual.

**. . .**

"Y-you're really letting me go?" Namiji looked up at Sukaime. The javelin sekirei nodded and even decided to hold her hand out and help Namiji stand.

"Ashikabi's orders. Wouldn't be _my_ first idea, but I'm not totally against it. Just don't push your luck or I'll stab the other half of your rear," Sukaime warned her. In her mind, Namiji had better be damn grateful and bow at their feet. OK maybe the bowing was a bit excessive, but still, her point remained... even if it was unspoken.

"Err, right." Apparently she'd made Namiji uncomfortable already. Score.

**. . .**

Now that he wasn't standing on the other side of the street from Kouji, Madoka could get a better look at him. He was blond as well, with fully brown eyes, but his hair was shorter and messier with a clump of bangs hanging in the middle of his forehead. He was also about a half foot shorter with an average and perhaps slightly athletic build.

Now that Namiji was free, she ran over to Kouji and embraced him tightly, her eyes growing damp. After nearly being terminated, he couldn't blame her. The scene only strengthened Madoka's feeling that this game was sick and twisted, yet he wasn't sure how, if it was even possible, he could get out of it.

He thought back to the first sekirei he'd seen Benitsubasa terminate. That ashikabi had seemed upset at his sekirei being terminated. Suddenly guilt hit him like a sack of bricks. Should he have been more insistent that Benitsubasa just head home with him? But so what if he had been, the other sekirei had seemed ready to chase them anyway. He sighed, best not to worry over what he couldn't change right now, but instead remember it and try and do better in the future – like right now.

"So, can we agree to be... friends?" the words seemed strange, but it's what Avaron had said to him that first time.

"I... I don't know about friends," Kouji answered uncertainly. "Err, b-but I'm grateful that you didn't, uh, terminate Namiji."

"I'm sorry Kouji-kun, I wasn't good enough!" Namiji sniffled.

"Don't be too sorry, if you'd won we wouldn't be having this conversation." It sounded stupid the second Madoka said it. He had a feeling Namiji would be perfectly happy if she'd won, and the only one who'd have been sorry then was him and Avaron.

"You realize you cheated, right?" Namiji replied. "Sekirei battles are supposed to be one-on-one."

"Sukaime?" he glanced at his own sekirei next to him.

"Eh, rules are meant to be broken," Sukaime shrugged nonchalantly. However, now that she said that, he remembered Masukagami mentioning something like that the night before.

"I see why his other sekirei doesn't like you," Namiji rolled her eyes.

"Ah, you caught that did you? You're a sharp one!"

"Stop harassing her," Madoka nudged her with the back of his hand.

"Umm, anyway, now what?" Kouji got them back on subject.

"Names would be good." Avaron walked over, having finished worrying over Masukagami. "I'm Niwakido Avaron."

"How come you didn't introduce yourself like that to me?" Madoka raised an eyebrow. He realized he'd never heard her last name before.

"I... was in a different mood," she replied cryptically.

"Right, well I'm Keisui Madoka."

"You didn't introduce yourself like that, either," Avaron giggled.

"I was in a different mood," Madoka repeated teasingly.

"Takano Kouji. Not the best way to meet people, but at least we're talking, I guess," Kouji introduced himself once they turned their attention back to him.

"Yay! More friends!" Masukagami cheered from behind them, seeming to have completely gotten over having just fought Namiji. Of course, that's how she'd been when he and Benitsubasa had met her as well.

The question now was... was she right?

* * *

><p><strong>I wonder how many of you remember Namiji from chapter 80 in the manga. Won't say what happened, but she was pretty awesome. As you can see from this chapter, she kicks ass. It took Sukaime being the sly, obnoxious little thing she is to force her into a vulnerable spot before they could finally take her down, and then she got up again!<strong>

**Where will this go? Who knows! (hint: I do!) Find out... NEXT TIME, ON DRAGON BA-, err, chapter 8!**

**(Fixed up in batch two of my edits.)**

**Til' next time!**


	8. I Hate Play Dates

**I Hate Play Dates**

"This is-"

"Stupid?"

"I-"

"Can't believe I did this?"

"A-"

"Again..."

"Let me finish my own s-"

"Sentence?" This time Madoka had to keep himself from laughing. He was starting to see why Sukaime teased Benitsubasa so much. It was easy.

"DAMMIT!" the crimson sekirei roared. "This isn't funny!"She had been complaining about his decision to spare Namiji the night before.

"For you, maybe." However, he decided he should probably stop provoking her. "Besides, you're cute when you get mad."

"Wh- oh... y-you think so?" Benitsubasa immediately turned into a blushing mess and clutched at her flushed cheeks. Yep, she was easy to figure out.

**. . .**

"Of course I do. Anyone would." Benitsubasa blushed as he leaned in close to her. She gasped softly when his arm snaked around her and pulled her up against his firm chest.

"M-Madoka-kun?" she wondered at his intentions, but reveled in the closeness, the warmth the flowed out of him into her. And this was just an embrace.

"Shh, don't use your lips for talking right now," he said in a husky voice. He then pressed his lips against hers, and moments later her wings spread out behind her. The splendor of her wings still could not fully express how she felt at finally receiving a kiss from him. "Benitsubasa..."

"Yes?"

"Benitsubasa..."

"Wh-what?"

"Benitsubasa!"

"WHAT?" Benitsubasa snapped and her eyes snapped open. She immediately frowned at having her fantasy interrupted.

"You shut your eyes and completely stopped paying attention. What was going through your head? You were blushing like you'd been kissed by Sukaime," Madoka said and raised an eyebrow at her. She could have told him that he was probably right, but he didn't need to know about that particular moment in her life. She wished she could just repress that memory.

"I... err... n-none of your business!" He also didn't need to know the details of her fantasies. That was just too embarrassing to share, even with him. Especially with him.

"Right then. Well, I'm going to work. Don't kill Sukaime while I'm gone."

**. . .**

Avaron looked down at the small rectangular device in her hand. She still had no idea what her long term goals should be now that she was free and being part of the "Sekirei Plan" didn't help with that. Simple things like getting a cell phone seemed like a good start though – not that she had anyone to call. Or did she?

"Do you think Madoka has a cell phone?" she asked her ever present sekirei companion.

"Doesn't everyone? But we don't know his number." Masukagami pouted.

"An excuse to visit," she patted her sekirei's shoulder. Masukagami's expression brightened at the prospect of seeing friends, but only momentarily.

"I don't think they like me," her normally cheerful look faded.

"That's just Benitsubasa, I don't believe she likes anyone but Madoka. It's not personal I'm sure," Avaron assured her. Even as she said that though, she understood. Benitsubasa was simply not friendly. Sukaime was more approachable, but it was probably a facade. Sukaime was a strange one. As for Madoka, Avaron got along well enough with him, but something told her he was the kind of person who angered easily and never just woke up in a good mood.

She remembered her first, and only, conversation with Benitsubasa. She had definitely gotten the feeling that Benitsubasa hadn't wanted her there, though surprisingly the girl had actually spoken with her. She knew her hostility would only be greater toward another sekirei, hence Masukagami's trepidation about a visit.

Those thoughts brought a question to Avaron's mind: if sekirei were devoted to their ashikabi, and the Plan required them to fight the sekirei of other ashikabi, why was Masukagami so friendly towards others while Benitsubasa acted more like one might expect? Though, even with some common predispositions, she figured sekirei must still have unique and differing personalities.

"I guess so," Masukagami agreed, though with noticeable uncertainty.

"He's probably at work right now, though." Avaron looked up at the midday sky. She had no idea where he worked. She only knew part of the route he took to get home and how to get to his house. She supposed she could either kill time and then wait at the spot she'd met him at later, or go wait at his house, though she doubted Benitsubasa would let her in. This all seemed like a lot of work just to get a cellphone number. Then again, her life hadn't exactly been easy in quite some time.

**. . .**

Madoka stood at what had basically become their meeting spot, where he'd first run into Avaron. A few days ago she'd ambushed him and asked for his cellphone number, which he hadn't had on him. He'd almost forgotten that MBI had supplied him with one and had been forced to have her follow him home... again. Benitsubasa had nearly burst a blood vessel.

"This is-"

"Stupid?"

"Don't bother, I've already played that game with her," he told Sukaime who had interrupted Benitsubasa.

"Aww, I missed that! How was it?" Sukaime grinned at a fuming Benitsubasa.

Currently they were there waiting for Avaron and Kouji. Hopefully they could begin working on forming a real alliance based on trust. As it was, he was only just learning to trust Avaron and knew next to nothing about Kouji. On the plus side, Kouji seemed to care about his sekirei, which spoke well about him as a person in general. That said, he wanted to find out for sure rather than make dangerous assumptions and pay for it later.

"Hello, Madoka-kun," Avaron spoke, the first to arrive it would seem. Wait, since when had she added "kun" to his name? That was now three girls who spoke to him like that, except Avaron wasn't a sekirei. He wondered if it meant anything.

"Hello yourself," he nodded at her.

"What are we planning? We never really decided on anything."

"I suppose we'll figure that out when Kouji gets here." He shrugged. After the fight, they'd decided to meet up that Saturday to... well they'd never really planned that far ahead. It had been late and they'd all wanted to go home and relax, so they'd simply picked a place and time. The place was the corner of a street next to a shop that was long closed with a small, wooden bench out front. Apparently no one wanted to buy the shop due to something terrible that had happened in it after it had been closed. The door was held shut with a chain and padlock since the door handle was... gone; torn off when someone had apparently broken in.

**. . .**

Kouji was late, so they ended up sitting on the bench. Well, Avaron, Madoka, and Benitsubasa were. There wasn't room for Masukagami or Sukaime, but the two sekirei had convinced them they didn't mind. There wasn't really room for Benitsubasa either, but she was jealously clinging to Madoka's right arm. Avaron wondered why exactly. Benitsubasa was clinging too tightly for it to be simple affection, and her face was scrunched up as she stared at her. In Benitsubasa's mind, was she perhaps keeping Madoka safe from another ashikabi or... had she perhaps seen when Avaron had kissed Madoka on the cheek?

She almost giggled, it was silly. Why should Benitsubasa worry about that? There was no reason to think anything would happen. But then, why not? Avaron was single and Madoka seemed to be too, unless their sekirei counted. Masukagami definitely liked _her_ _that_ way. And the same was clearly true for Benitsubasa and Sukaime when it came to Madoka, though she could tell he didn't return the feelings.

That left her and Masukagami. She currently didn't see them together in that fashion, despite the fact that she'd almost stripped down in front of her sekirei. She had been in a strange place mentally at that time. She felt drawn to her sekirei, but she wasn't sure it was romantic. She'd never thought about girls that way, but Masukagami was different. Whether that would ever mean anything remained to be seen.

Madoka, though? She glanced over at him. He was tall, very tall, and he wasn't out of shape. She wasn't sure she liked his hair, just over medium length, but not yet worth being called long. It was straight and just hung there, not doing anything. It seemed like a waste, like he'd just let it grow and ignored it save to keep it out of his face. Maybe she was putting too much thought into it. No, no she definitely was, she decided. She liked his eyes, blue with the left one having a chunk of brown thrown in. It wasn't striking, but it was different and stood out. It was just a little thing, but she liked that he was different, like she was. She wasn't sure that was a fair comparison though.

She wanted to talk to him now, but it seemed Kouji decided to finally show up – over 20 minutes late.

**. . .**

"Sorry I'm late," Kouji panted. He looked like he'd run the last bit of the way there. Sukaime looked down at Benitsubasa. She was currently standing behind the bench so she could playfully swat at Benitsubasa's ponytail. The other sekirei was busy clinging to Madoka and wouldn't let go, so she was defenseless except for occasionally trying to knock Sukaime's hand away. It also meant she could see Benitsubasa's posture shift as Kouji walked over.

She knew Benitsubasa hated waiting. Benitsubasa wasn't a nice girl, but she seemed to be the punctual type. Kouji was late, so he'd be on her shit list for sure. It made Sukaime grin; this could be fun to watch.

"What? Your sekirei have trouble getting her bra to fit on those ridiculous br-"

"Benitsubasa..." Madoka said in a warning tone as the girl spoke.

"I bet they were making out and lost track of the time," Sukaime whispered into Benitsubasa's ear. She saw said ear turn bright red at the thought. Benitsubasa had just likely imagined herself doing that with Madoka... and should now be deliciously jealous. Oh how she loved fueling drama.

**. . .**

"I was starting to think you'd decided not to come," Madoka said and stood up. He wouldn't have blamed Kouji, Benitsubasa and Sukaime had nearly terminated his sekirei. He was glad Kouji did show up though. When he really though about the Sekirei Plan, it made him nervous. Having another possible friend made him feel ever so slightly less like he'd have to watch his back every waking moment. Or it might once he knew Kouji better.

"I considered it, but if you wanted to terminate Namiji you had your chance... so..." Kouji shrugged.

"Err, thanks for that, by the way," Namiji said to Madoka. It seemed sincere, if forced. He decided it was probably hard for her to get the words out of her mouth past her pride. He couldn't imagine being saved by someone else ashikabi after losing a fight felt good.

"You should be kissing his feet!" Benitsubasa growled from where she was on the bench, arms crossed and eyes dangerous. "Actually, scratch that. Touch him and die." Namiji frowned at this, but didn't respond.

"Do you know how to be nice to anyone but me?" He glanced back at his first sekirei. Hell, sometimes she wasn't even nice to him.

"Not if they're a sekirei or an ashikabi." He probably should have seen that one coming. He sighed.

"Just ignore her when she acts like this. I know I try to," he said to Kouji and Namiji.

"What the hell!"

"R-right," Kouji replied nervously.

**. . .**

"So you've really defeated three other sekirei?" Namiji asked.

"Yeah, they were nothing compared to me!" Benitsubasa crossed her arms. She looked quite pleased with herself.

"Mhm! Tell them how you climbed out of the wreckage of that fence after you were thrown through it!" Sukaime urged her, causing Benitsubasa to growl in her throat. Namiji just laughed.

"It's not like we went looking for any of those fights. Well, she went looking for the first one on her own, but that's a long story," Madoka clarified. He didn't want his two sekirei getting into a fight while they were supposed to be having a nice conversation.

"Well, I guess it's no wonder I lost. You were only my second fight, and the first one ran away before I could terminate her," Namiji said. "I've only been with Kouji-kun for a little over a week now." As she spoke she inched closer to her ashikabi and grabbed his arm.

"Y-yeah... not very long," Kouji chuckled nervously. Madoka could understand, he'd been fairly uncomfortable with Benitsubasa at first, and Namiji seemed to be more willing to show her affection... and her body.

"Well get used to it, you'll learn soon enough there's not much use it trying to keep her away," he shook his head. He'd given up on trying to keep Benitsubasa off of his own arm.

"You don't say," Kouji glanced at Namiji who just smiled brightly.

"Yeah, and you've got a sekirei who's actually hot!" Sukaime grinned, "I mean, I can only assume we aren't that attractive to Madoka, what with our underdeveloped bodies. He doesn't make that cute, embarrassed face you just made when we grab his arm." The sekirei sighed sadly when she was done speaking. Madoka just tried to avoid everyone's eyes for a moment, thoroughly mortified by her words. Kouji and Namiji looked embarrassed as well, but for different reasons.

"Will anyone believe me if I say I don't know her?" Madoka groaned. Avaron seemed to find the whole thing hilarious.

"Who's underdeveloped?" Benitsubasa, of course, shouted.

**. . .**

Avaron smiled and sat silently. After a little time everyone seemed to have grown more comfortable with each other. Kouji had understandably been nervous and Madoka was simply not the most sociable person, but now they were talking and laughing amiably. She, however, was left out. She didn't believe they were ignoring her, but men would be men.

She would laugh with them, and throw in an occasional comment, and they didn't seem to mind when she did, but that was all. After some time it began to grow wearisome. After some more time she began gritting her teeth. Their voices were starting to grate on her nerves. Her hands gripped her knees tightly until her knuckles burned white.

She'd teach them what happened when they ignored her!

"Avaron-sama?" A hand gently placed itself on hers. Masukagami. "Are you OK?" She spoke softly, making a conscientious effort to not draw attention to Avaron, but she was overheard anyway.

"Is something wrong?" Madoka asked, though his expression wasn't one of worry, more curiosity. Avaron glanced up at the sky, it was sunny. She supposed she could lie her way out of this.

"I've never been one for the outdoors, the sun is bothering me. I think I'll head home," she excused herself curtly and stood from the bench. "Come, Masukagami." She caught a brief glimpse of Madoka and Kouji exchanging bemused glances, but she just walked away.

"What's wrong?" Masukagami asked after a few minutes. Avaron was walking somewhat quickly and stiffly, so her mood was showing.

"He... they ignored me," she replied coldly after a momentary delay.

"I don't think they did it on purpose, why would anyone ignore you?" Masukagami reached over and put her hand on Avaron's shoulder. Avaron swatted it away when it got close, causing her sekirei to recoil in alarm. After that, the rest of the trip was one of strained silence.

**. . .**

Masukagami didn't understand Avaron. She had seemed so happy for a while, but now she was hostile again. It made her feel so lonely even when standing right next to her ashikabi. Confusion mated with surprise when they arrived home.

Avaron grabbed her and pressed her against the wall. She was just held there for what felt like an eternity with Avaron just gazing into her eyes. She could see hints of Avaron's emotions flitting across her face or in subtle movements of her eyes.

Finally Avaron moved closer and simply embraced her tightly.

"A-Avaron-sama?" Masukagami's voice came out in a startled whisper. At this rate her ashikabi was going to drive her insane with these sudden mood swings.

"I'm a terrible person to punish you so much," was Avaron's choked reply. "A beautiful person like you shouldn't be bonded to a poisonous person like me. I'll corrupt you. I want you to always be perfect like you are now."

It was almost painful how those words filled Masukagami up. A mix of potent joy and sorrow welled up within her.

"Then I'll always stay just like this. I'll always love you!"

"No! I don't deserve your love. How could I possibly have earned it from you?" Avaron pulled away, tear laden eyes gazing into Masukagami's.

"You completed me. The moment you winged me you earned it. As your sekirei, I will love you forever and ever!"

"But I only winged you because I wanted you to save me, I was completely selfish," Avaron hiccuped. It was killing Masukagami inside to see her like this. She desperately wanted to make her beloved ashikabi happy again.

"But even then didn't you say I was perfect?"

"I-I-"

"Don't you love me, Avaron-sama?" She saw her ashikabi freeze up before her quiet tears became sobs that wracked her entire body.

"I-I should," Avaron hiccuped, barely able to speak through her sobs. Should? Didn't that mean she didn't? "I-I don't know! I know I should, b-but I don't know!" Avaron wailed.

"What? Wh-what do you mean you don't know?" This was horrible! She'd been sure beneath Avaron's strange behavior there had only been love! Worse, Avaron wasn't even giving her a straight answer!

"I j-just don't know!" Avaron repeated helplessly. Masukagami responded by grabbing Avaron's shoulders.

"C-come on, just calm down. Just think about it." Masukagami smiled. She was sure Avaron was just guilty and flustered. She just needed to think, sort through her feelings. She was probably right, but pressuring Avaron even slightly wasn't a good idea it turned out.

"No!" Avaron pushed her back.

"Wh-"

"No! No, no no! There's nothing to think about! I-I don't! I don't love you! There, there's your answer! I don't love you, I don't! I DON'T!" Avaron raved wildly, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"A-A-Avaron-s-sama?" Masukagami felt tears rolling uncontrollably down her cheeks. She must be imagining this. What she'd heard was clearly just her overwhelming anxiety distorting her sense of reality. "P-please..." Masukagami tried to just hug her ashikabi.

"Stay away!" Avaron pushed her back even more harshly.

"But I-" She was stopped when Avaron silenced her not with simply a slap, but Avaron's nails raking across her face, coming dangerously close to her eye. Avaron stormed past Masukagami and went into her bedroom, the door slamming behind her. She barely even felt the stinging pain of the marks on her face, it was nothing compared to the burning ache in her chest.

**. . .**

After Avaron had left, the conversation between Madoka and Kouji had gotten noticeably less lively. Even Benitsubasa had been able to tell Avaron's sudden departure was a little strange. Regardless of why Avaron had left, it had killed the conversation. Finally.

Benitsubasa could hardly stand all of the socialization! It was distracting Madoka from her! Having Sukaime around was bad enough. She knew it was only time before the sly girl started competing for Madoka's affection. All the teasing must have been some sort of tactic to undermine her own attempts at getting close to Madoka by making her look bad.

Also, after Sukaime had suggested perverted things had been going on between Kouji and Namiji, she'd been put in a strange mood. The kind of mood that made Benitsubasa want to drag Madoka off so they could be alone. What would they do? Well as much as she hated to admit it, what Sukaime had spoken of wouldn't have been a bad start. She just hated taking ideas from the competition.

The issue, as it always had been, was _how._ How was she to get Madoka to not just show her affection, but be physical about it? She bet Sukaime had ideas, and that bothered her. Not only might the girl be at an advantage, but even if Benitsubasa broke down and asked her for advice, she'd probably give bad advice to further her own goals. Sukaime was a master at psychological warfare. Benitsubasa had the headaches to prove it.

**. . .**

Four days passed since their first, non-violent, meeting together. Not hearing from Avaron wouldn't have seemed strange, except he did get one call from Kouji. Now, Madoka wouldn't have considered himself and Avaron especially close, but her actions suggested that maybe she felt at the very least some form of friendship towards him. So, that said, why hadn't she attempted any form of contact?

It wasn't like he was missing her or anything. He was used to being alone and having his phone never ring. Just because his cellphone now lived in only two places, his hip and his nightstand, didn't mean he was ever expecting calls, and certainly not from Avaron.

"Dammit I'm lonely." Madoka sighed while sitting on the couch that night, watching TV with his sekirei. He'd bought the ancient thing, so he figured he might as well use it.

"Aww, I'll make you feel _aaalllll_ better!" Sukaime chimed and cuddled closer to him, drawing a line down his chest with her finger.

"Back off! Madoka knows me better!" Benitsubasa grabbed the arm on her side, as he was between the two, and bared her teeth at Sukaime. "You want my company, right Madoka-kun?" She squeezed his arm so tightly it hurt.

"Breaking my arm won't make me like you more, quite the opposite in fact," he spoke through gritted teeth. "And stop molesting my chest!" He shot a scowl at Sukaime. Both girls pulled away with sour expressions on their faces and then crossed their arms, taking almost the exact same pose. They also both scowled at each other.

Madoka let out a long breath through his nose and pursed his lips as he directed his attention back towards the television. It seemed war had officially begun between his sekirei.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa had claimed the couch for herself, as usual. Madoka wasn't letting her share his bed anymore, much to her dismay. In the end it was more of an annoyance, but she took some consolation in knowing that Sukaime wasn't sharing his bed either. In fact, Sukaime got to sleep on the floor.

At first Madoka had tried to come up with some sort of fair arrangement, but after only one night he'd given up. She felt a little guilty, but Benitsubasa had decided that keeping herself on the couch and Sukaime on the floor was worth an aggravated frown from Madoka. Sometimes sacrifices were necessary, she supposed.

"Still enjoying your throne, princess?" Sukaime asked from her place on the floor.

"Oh, yeah, it's great. So soft and _comfy._" Benitsubasa let out an exaggerated moan of comfort as she nestled into the couch cushion.

"You realize if you keep it up Madoka's just going to start sympathizing with me, right?"

"Hmph, he's not stupid. He knows you're just a snake in the grass trying to get your own way!" Benitsubasa argued, turning onto her side to face the back of the couch and trying to ignore Sukaime.

"Hmm, I suppose perhaps I have revealed my hand, yes. We both know I'm the smart one though, once I start trying, who do you really think he's going to like more? Do you honestly think you have a chance?" Sukaime giggled. Her words made Benitsubasa's heart sink.

What did she and Madoka have in common? They were both angry, violent people according to what Madoka had said, but he'd also suggested that it was a bad thing. Would he really like someone more cunning and intelligent like Sukaime? She knew Sukaime could just throw on an act and be more likable if she wanted to be. She groaned, suddenly feeling sick to her stomach. She wasn't going to sleep well tonight, she just knew it.

**. . .**

Masukagami was worried. She hadn't seen Avaron for hours. Ever since Avaron had struck her, she'd barely even caught a glimpse of her ashikabi. She occasionally heard doors open and shut when Avaron needed to eat or use the bathroom, but otherwise Avaron kept to her room.

When they'd first moved in they'd occasionally shared a bed, only for warmth and comfort, but now Masukagami was starting to forget what Avaron's face looked like. She missed the color of Avaron's eyes, the feel of her skin, the smell of her hair. She missed the illusion that her ashikabi had loved her. Now she was afraid she wasn't even liked, let alone loved. She wasn't sure she'd even be _tolerated_ in her own ashikabi's presence.

It was the worst feeling in the world. It had to end, it just had to. She'd die if it didn't change.

She practically crawled to Avaron's door, hoping she wouldn't wake her. She'd only gone to bed minutes ago, maybe she'd still be awake. If she did disturb Avaron it wouldn't help her case. She knocked lightly on the door and got no answer, so she knocked louder. Still nothing.

"Avaron-sama?" she called, her voice quavering. Again she was met with silence. "Avaron-sama, please!" she called again. Still nothing. She felt herself start to cry, whimpers escaping her. Being ignored hurt more than being slapped. "I'm sorry! Whatever I did, whatever I said, I'm so sorry!" She fell against the door, sinking to her knees, sobs rocking her body.

Still nothing.

* * *

><p><strong>Le gasp, so sad that ending was. Whatever will become of the adorable pair that was Masukagami and Avaron?<strong>

**This chapter was sort of a mix between an aftermath of the previous chapter, and a set up for the next chapter, I suppose.**

**(Fixed up in batch two of my edits.)**

**Til' next time!**


	9. I Hate Your Friends

**I Hate Your Friends**

"Alright you win, your sekirei are evil man!" Kouji laughed at him. Madoka was getting used to the other ashikabi's company. It was Friday, later in the day. Avaron seemed to have dropped off the face of the earth, but they had decided that once Madoka had gotten off of work to just hang out for an hour or two.

Currently they were discussing the embarrassing things their sekirei did. Namiji was apparently just very, very cuddly. Public displays of affection weren't so bad compared to the antics of Benitsubasa and Sukaime.

"See? You should stop complaining!" Namiji pressed herself against Kouji and captured his arm in hers.

"Yeah, just go with it," Benitsubasa said with a blank expression, but she was looking at Madoka when she spoke. He was quite aware what she was trying to do, but didn't respond.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa was displaying as little outward emotion as she could, but she was livid inside. How dare these two intrude on her _sacred_ walk home with Madoka? What was worse-

"So, how far have you gotten, Namiji?" Sukaime asked with a foxy little grin. _She_ was there too.

"Seriously?" Madoka sighed. "Please don't answer that."

"Oh, umm, not f-far. Nothing worth talking about!" Namiji answered with an embarrassed blush.

"Is that because things are so steamy nothing stands out anymore?" Sukaime bobbed her eyebrows teasingly.

"I-I just said we haven't gotten far!" Namiji buried her face into Kouji's shirt.

"Enough, Sukaime," Madoka scolded her and groaned.

"Can I hit her? Please? I really want to," Benitsubasa requested. It was true, she really, really wanted to.

"No," Madoka grumbled. He looked to be running out of patience at this point.

"Hey, look, we're not far from where I live now. Namiji's had enough, I think we're gonna split," Kouji told them.

"Right, see ya," Madoka replied. After Kouji and Namiji left, Madoka turned and glared at both her and Sukaime. "Sukaime, are you secretly in league with Benitsubasa to scare my friends away?"

"No, no of course not! I like them!" Sukaime waved her hands in denial.

"Hmph, right, sure." Madoka shook his head and then turned to lead them the rest of the way home. Once he was no longer looking, Benitsubasa smiled. Sukaime had definitely just lost points with him.

**. . .**

"This is great, you made them go away _and _Madoka got mad at you. This is a good day." Benitsubasa smiled at Sukaime. Oh and, to top it off, Benitsubasa had the couch again.

"Yes, I'm sure you're feeling very superior," Sukaime replied sourly. "Oh, remind me, what's your cup size again?"

"What do my br-"

"Anyway, don't get too excited. It's just a momentary set back. Unless _you_ plan on being nice to them now, Madoka-kun will become just as frustrated with you the next time _you_ get impatient with his new friends. In fact, it'll tip things in my favor. I was just playing around, you _really _don't like them. People generally don't like people who don't like their friends." Sukaime suddenly gained a malicious grin. "He might even start liking other sekirei more than he likes you at this rate. Masukagami and Namiji are really easy to get along with, unlike you."

"Don't be stupid!" Benitsubasa snapped. What the hell did Sukaime think she was saying? "I'm his sekirei, his_ first _sekirei! He loves _me_!"

"Oh how cute. You think he loves you? He doesn't love you," Sukaime told her quite frankly.

"H-he will!" He had to. If not now, then soon!

"Not with the way things are going now."

"Shut up! You don't know what you're talking about!" Benitsubasa screamed at Sukaime and sat up straight.

"Don't I? At this point I'm not sure if you're in denial or just stupid," Sukaime replied with infuriating calmness. Benitsubasa just wanted to smash her face through a wall – or two.

"Hey, hey! What's going on in here?" Madoka walked in from the kitchen.

"Nothing!" both sekirei spoke at once. Well, Sukaime spoke while Benitsubasa yelled.

"Right then," Madoka quickly backed off and headed back to the kitchen. Benitsubasa wished he hadn't, she didn't want to be left alone with Sukaime again. It was about then she remembered she had legs and decided to just go hide in Madoka's room. If Sukaime followed her, then she'd get rid of her. Permanently.

"The couch is yours," Benitsubasa muttered.

**. . .**

He doesn't love you. He doesn't love you. He doesn't love you. The words felt like they were burned into Benitsubasa's skull. Why had she said that? Not Sukaime, her. Why had she said Madoka loved her? Even without Sukaime she should have known it wasn't true. Why had she opened herself up to that kind of torment?

She knew it was true. She _was_ in denial. Madoka didn't love her, and she'd been happy enough to pretend that didn't bother her. So why had she said he did love her just so Sukaime could shoot her down? Hearing it from her made it feel real. It had always been real, but now the pain of the truth was sinking in.

The truth was a terrible thing.

She clutched her chest, over her aching heart. Her fingers dug into herself through the fabric of her clothing. It was as if she hoped that if she squeezed hard enough she could crush her own heart and make the pain go away.

At that moment, she hated being a sekirei. She was stuck in a horrible limbo where her ashikabi tolerated her but didn't give her any of the love she so desperately wanted. Craved. _Needed_.

Had it really only been a month? It felt like a year, so much had happened. She'd won two fights, barely survived a third, and then gotten into a fourth brawl with four sekirei, including herself. In less than a month she'd lost her place as Madoka's only sekirei.

Now she was part of some weird alliance between three ashikabi. Why couldn't she just have Madoka all to herself? Then she could focus on him and not feel all this stress about who would gain his affection. At this point he almost seemed to like _Kouji_ more than her.

She curled up on top of his bed. Her fingers burrowed into the sheets and pulled them close to her face. The bed smelled like him. She closed her eyes and she could almost imagine he was there with her. She felt something wet roll down her cheek.

The roof must have been leaking...

**. . .**

The next day it was the weekend. It was also wet. Apparently it had rained all last night. Fortunately though, the ceilings had held back the deluge. The rain had stopped, but it had left behind a wet, dreary cityscape. The deep grays much matched Benitsubasa's mood: depressed.

Benitsubasa had been hoping for some quality time with Madoka now that he didn't have to work. Unfortunately, her dour mood wasn't helping. She couldn't do much about it. After last night even the smallest smile was impossible.

In the end it was just a lazy day where she did little more than do her best to avoid Sukaime. She didn't care about the couch anymore. She just felt tired. She couldn't even get angry. She merely shrugged when Madoka asked her what was wrong. She hated herself for passing up an opportunity to talk to him. She hated herself for a lot of reasons right now.

That was the day. It was later when the sun began to go down that what really mattered happened. Madoka's cellphone rang. It was a short conversation, but it seemed to go over well.

"Who was that?" Sukaime asked.

"Kouji, he invited us over to his place," Madoka told them.

"This late? Forget it!" Benitsubasa huffed angrily.

"It's not _that _late," Madoka argued. It was only around six in the evening. "Look, we just go, stay for a few hours, be home in time for bed."

"No," Benitsubasa refused adamantly. She crossed her arms. She wasn't going. She still disapproved of getting so close to other ashikabi and sekirei. She hated having Madoka's attention split between so many people besides her, especially when they were enemies.

"No?" Madoka raised an eyebrow. "I already told him I'd go."

"Then call him back and tell him you changed your mind!" Benitsubasa outright ordered.

"What? No!" This time Madoka refused.

"Hmm, I don't want to go either," Sukaime chimed in nonchalantly while inspecting her fingernails. She was stomach down on the couch, elbows resting on the arm rest. "It's getting late, you should just stay home with us."

"Well, like I said, I already agreed to go. I'll just go without you two. If you have to kill each other while I'm gone, do it outside so you don't break anything." Madoka sighed and headed to his room, presumably to get ready. And what had been with that response? Was he mad at them?

"If that's what Madoka-kun wants to do." Sukaime kicked her feet idly.

"If you're not back before I go to bed, I'm hunting you down," Benitsubasa told him. "It won't be pretty."

"Noted." Madoka just rolled his eyes. Seriously, why was he being so flip tonight?

**. . .**

Five minutes later and Madoka was on his way, though not before receiving one last dirty look from Benitsubasa. He'd was getting acclimated to sharing his home with Benitsubasa, but her jealousy was unbecoming. He was actually glad his sekirei had decided not to go with him.

The only time he really had to himself was when he was at work, but that was hardly a chance to relax. Sure, he could shut his mind off and just go through the paces, but he couldn't really unwind. He'd gotten used to living alone, and now he had not one, but two people, girls, living with him. The fact that they'd dragged him into the Sekirei Plan didn't help either.

He supposed he'd just enjoy the lonely walk through the slowly darkening city streets. Most of the rain from the previous night had evaporated, but he still had to avoid the occasional puddle. One thing he noticed was that the streets were a lot more empty at nights than they used to be. Of course people went home at night and only certain areas deeper into the city had any significant late-night foot traffic, but the lack of others wandering the streets was still odd. Maybe MBI and the Sekirei Plan had something to do with it.

Of course, the lack of witnesses was quite convenient for him at times. He sure as hell wouldn't have wanted to explain Benitsubasa's wounds from the various fights she'd gotten into. Wounds that he'd had to bandage. Another example of how she'd thrown a wrench into his life. At least she healed fast on her own. She might have been annoying, but he had to admit she could pull off some impressive feats. He remembered showing up to her first fight late to find her a crumpled mess on the ground, only to have her get up and completely demolish her opponent.

He paused for a moment. Why was he smiling? It was a small one, but it was there.

He didn't have time to ponder the unconscious actions of his lips because a moment later someone plowed into him. This was followed by a splash when said person stumbled back and fell into a nearby puddle.

"Ow!" The person's voice was rather high-pitched. Madoka looked down and confirmed what his ears told him; it was a girl. She wore a black and white dress, with a red ribbon in her short, violet hair and another at the collar of her dress. He decided she must have been one of those weird, lolita girls.

He sighed at that though. Benitsubasa and Sukaime could probably be labeled lolitas too, though their style of dress didn't quite fit the stereotype.

"Noo, I'm all wet!" the girl whined, snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Sorry, here." Madoka leaned over and held his hand out to help her up. She took it with an embarrassed blush. "Are you OK?"

"Y-yeah, I'll be fine once I dry off," she mumbled. "I should be going. Bye." She ducked around him hastily and walked away. That random encounter over, he decided to be on his way as well.

That lasted about two seconds.

"There you are. Look at you, you're soaked. If you come with us we'll get you into something more comfortable." He probably should have just ignored it. He didn't though, and glanced over his shoulder. He saw the girl in the dress with two, taller woman blocking her path. Both wore very tight-fitting outfits that showed off their breasts and midsection. One had very short black hair, and the other long, green hair of all colors. Considering his own sekirei, he really had no room to talk. _Unlike_ his sekirei, they had rather voluptuous figures. The long-haired one, green hair or not, was especially striking.

At this point his mind was figuring things out, but for some reason the thought "just keep walking" failed to come to him. He'd lived a good portion of his life avoiding conflict, but for some reason just turning the other way wasn't what he thought he should do right now.

"Hey, are they bothering you?" He turned around and called out. The girl in the dress turned and looked at him. He caught her eyes. The look in her eyes could only be described as pleading.

"Please stay out of this sir, this girl is running from her family. She's our cousin you see," the green-haired woman said.

"Right. Does your family run a sex shop or did you just come from a drag race?" Madoka glanced down at her outfit. Women with strange hair and strange outfits. If they weren't sekirei he'd eat his shoe.

"What? How dare you-" their conversation was cut short when a car pulled up. It was a bright red convertible driven by a young man in a white suit with short brown hair.

"Having trouble, Toyotama?" The man spoke and stepped out of the car.

"Of course not, A-... Higa-sama. Once this asshole leaves, there will be no trouble at all," Toyotama, the green-haired one, growled at Madoka. Oh yeah, she was a sekirei. He could tell by the way she spoke. The near slip-up helped too.

"I see. I suggest you listen sir, this is none of your business," Higa spoke to him more calmly.

"I could make it my business." Madoka walked over. Toyotama quickly blocked his path though.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll back off. Now," Toyotama warned him. Therein lay his problem. His sekirei weren't there, and this guy had two.

"Please, let's all stay calm." Higa motioned for Toyotama to step back, and she obeyed. "I assure you, this is a misunderstanding. Just a girl going through a rebellious phase."

"Sure thing, 'Higa-sama,'" Madoka rolled his eyes. "You dress them like that to get off, or is MBI run by perverts?" Toyotama looked ready to rip his head off, but Higa just chuckled.

"The latter probably isn't far from the truth, honestly. Hm, so you know about sekirei I take it? Fine, I'll drop the pretenses. Oriha here hasn't been winged, and I plan to rectify that. Unless you have your own sekirei hiding in your pockets, I don't see there's much you can do about that. Like I said, this is none of your business." Higa's amused smile came and went in a flash.

"I don't think she likes you." Madoka shrugged. "Besides, from what I've seen, sekirei hate sharing, and you already have two. Why be a dick about it?"

"That's a naïve viewpoint. This is a game about power, and the more sekirei you have, the more power you have. I dislike MBI and its ridiculous Sekirei Plan, but I'm not going to turn away these sekirei if they're just throwing them out to be claimed."

"OK, so you're definitely a dick, but at least we can agree on the ridiculous part." Considering the situation, insulting Higa was probably a bad idea. His two sekirei were glaring daggers at him. However, if they were looking at him, they weren't looking at Oriha.

"I see. Well, if you can refrain from the insults for a moment, maybe we can work together."

"I'm listening." Madoka paced back and forth a little as Higa went into a short rant. It was mostly narcissistic bullshit and a lot of hate towards MBI. He clearly had a high opinion of himself and didn't like the competition from MBI, as he had his own pharmaceutical company.

Meanwhile, his pacing was slowly edging him closer to Oriha, but everyone was focusing on Higa's speech. He caught Oriha's eye for a brief moment and did his best to be subtle when motioning for her to move towards him. He had no idea why he was doing this, but he'd feel guilty if he left her with this prick.

She got five steps before the short-haired sekirei noticed. Madoka glanced at Higa.

"I hate to interrupt you, but... run!" He ducked past Toyotama and grabbed Oriha's hand. Higa's other sekirei tried to stop him, but out of nowhere a spinning blade whizzed past her face. The momentary distraction gave just enough time for Madoka to pull Oriha away and into the street. They were off and running. They reached the opposite sidewalk, and kept going. They ducked into countless alleyways until they were certain Higa's sekirei were nowhere in sight.

It was mostly dark now, only the streetlights were left to provide any illumination. They both collapsed, sitting against the wall of some shop in a damp alley. He felt ready to pass out from exhaustion. He walked a lot, but running full tilt wasn't something he had the stamina to do for very long. Oriha looked like she was already catching her breath. The perks of being a sekirei.

"Thank you," she said, looking up at him. She was fairly small. She couldn't have been much taller than his own sekirei. However, her dress was tight around the waist and chest, more notably the chest where the fabric clung to and showed clearly the shape of her breasts. Compared to the two sekirei they'd just run from they were nothing special, but compared to the two sekirei waiting for him at home...

The fact that she was still soaked from falling into a puddle, and running into a few more during their escape, helped. Also, white fabric and water made an... interesting combination. Of course he had to sympathize with her, he'd gotten splashed a bit too and was starting to feel the cold.

"No... no problem," he panted. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to have a heart attack."

"A-are you OK?" she sounded worried.

"It's not easy outrunning sekirei when you're just a weak, pathetic human." He chuckled. She laughed too and before long neither of them could stop. Nothing was funny, but after the crazy situation it felt good. When finally the laughter died away and he could breathe again, he found Oriha staring at him intently. Suddenly she leaned close to him, her face moving towards his. He didn't stop her, in fact her found himself leaning closer to her.

Their lips touched.

Wait, what the hell was he doing?

Shit...

Her wings sprouted, bright, lavender spears hanging majestically above her sekirei crest. She pulled away, smiling.

"My ashikabi-sama," she whispered.

"Oh, fuck me..." he groaned.

"Wh-what? B-but you just, s-so soon?" she panicked, face red. Romantic moment officially ruined, shot in the head, and dumped into the ocean.

"No, no, forget about it. I can kill myself over this later." Madoka sighed. Why in the name of fuck had he done that?

"What are you talking about?" Oriha looked confused, and he couldn't blame her.

"I already have two sekirei, I don't need another! Whatever, I can't undo this. Let's just go. And be ready to duck, I know at least one of them is going to be pissed when she finds out about this," Madoka warned her.

"O-OK," Oriha mumbled, suddenly looking defeated. He groaned again and stood up.

"Hey, come on, it's getting cold and you need dry clothes." He held his hand out to her. "I got myself into this, I can't blame you." If he'd learned only one thing about sekirei, it was that they took the winging very seriously. He was the moron who'd kissed her knowing full well she was a sekirei. There was no reason to make her feel bad about it.

Immediately Oriha's expression brightened and she took his hand. Her face flushed and she didn't let go even after standing. In fact she tightened her grip a little. He was used to Benitsubasa clinging to him like a tick, so he could live with Oriha holding his hand for a little while.

**. . .**

A little while turned into over a half-hour by the time Madoka found his way home from where they'd ended up. Oriha let go for long enough for him to open the door. Now it was time to face Benitsubasa's wrath. He knew she would show up the second she heard the door open.

"You're back early-" Right on schedule Benitsubasa walked out of the dining room and froze when she saw Oriha.

"Things got complicated," Madoka said. What else could he say?

"Who?" Benitsubasa growled, fists clenching.

"This is Oriha, and, errr-"

"I'm his sekirei. Who are you?" Oriha finished answering for him. Well, so much for trying to break the news gently.

"S-seki... sekirei?" Benitsubasa looked ready to explode. "Why would... how could... y-you..." Suddenly her voice broke and she turned and ran away. He heard a door slam a second later. He honestly hadn't seen that coming.

"So, where's the one who I'm supposed to duck around?" Oriha asked.

"Umm, that was her... I think." Madoka raised an eyebrow. Benitsubasa had been acting strangely all day now that he thought about it. He led Oriha inside now that the great wall of Benitsubasa had crumbled and fled of her own accord. Unfortunately she'd fled into the bathroom so he instead took Oriha to his room and handed her a spare shirt to use as a towel and another to put on until her clothes dried.

While he was waiting outside his room, Sukaime wandered over.

"So, why's Benitsubasa throwing a tantrum this time?" the javelin sekirei asked.

"Promise not to stab me?"

"So, I'm not the new kid anymore, eh?" Sukaime crossed her arms.

"I-... what?"

"I overheard, just wanted to make you sweat a little." Sukaime grinned deviously.

"You don't seem bothered," Madoka observed. He still couldn't figure Sukaime out. At first she'd seemed flirty, but rather disinterested in general. More recently she'd started to compete with Benitsubasa for his affection, and yet apparently she didn't care that he'd winged a new sekirei.

"Well I've always wanted to try a three way, but Benitsubasa's the jealous type, so-"

"Enough, dammit, can't you ever give a straight answer?" Madoka was too tired for her and her games.

"What? You want me to be jealous? I can do that too." She walked up to him. "Want me to throw myself at you in a desperate attempt to make you mine?" She pressed herself against him, her hands crawling up his chest.

This was too much. On a good day he could brush her off, but he was tired, he'd winged a new sekirei because he'd gotten caught up in the moment, and something was wrong with Benitsubasa. He didn't need another dose of sexual tension at the moment.

He grabbed Sukaime's shoulders and then pushed her away a little too roughly. He didn't hurt her, and she kept her feet, but he could tell he'd surprised her.

"I... think you should go to bed now," Madoka told her and looked away.

"Yes, ashikabi-sama," Sukaime turned her gaze down at the floor and walked away quickly. The way she'd addressed him stung. He already felt guilty. He was out of his element and he was starting to take it out on them. He was brought out of those thoughts by the sound of his bedroom door opening.

"Um, ashikabi-sama?" he heard from behind him. He turned to see Oriha exiting his room wearing nothing but one of his large t-shirts. And nothing else. There was a significant pause before Madoka responded.

"Err, don't, uh, don't call me that," he told her. "Why are, uh, why are you... not wearing pants? I put out shorts..."

"I'm used to wearing a dress. The shirt is long enough." Oriha shrugged. "I'm still wearing panties. They're a bit damp, but-"

"OK, OK, whatever." Madoka groaned. How was it that Benitsubasa was the shy one? Bashing skulls and death threats yes, but sexual advances? Not so much. Oriha, though, seemed quite comfortable discussing her panties. Only time would tell just how comfortable, he supposed. "Look, don't take this the wrong way, but you should sleep in my room tonight."

"Really? I-I mean so soon? I mean, ummm..."

"What did I just say?"

"I should sleep with you?" She cocked her head to the side. Madoka dropped his face into his palm.

"No. I _said_ don't take it the wrong way. It's just safer if you do. We won't be touching, I assure you," Madoka explained through gritted teeth.

"Safer?"

"I'm not so sure Benitsubasa won't try to slit your throat in your sleep." Madoka pursed his lips. Speaking of Benitsubasa, he remembered her unusual reaction to him bringing Oriha home. He'd expected a spectacular display of murderous fury, but instead she'd looked more like a kicked puppy.

"The one who ran away?" Oriha looked doubtful.

"Remind me to tell you what she did when I ignored her for a week." Madoka rolled his eyes, remembering when she'd hit him.

"Can't you just tell me now?"

"Oh, uh, she hit me. In the stomach. Hard." It wasn't really a long story, in retrospect.

"She _hit_ you? But you're her ashikabi! How could she hit you?" Oriha puffed her cheeks out angrily.

"Well if she'll hit me, imagine what she'll do to you," Madoka pointed out.

"I'm not scared."

"Don't have to be scared to be murdered. If you don't want to sleep in my room, fine, bu-" He was cut off when Oriha suddenly grabbed his hand and held his arm close to her chest. One thing was now very obvious. She wasn't wearing a bra.

"You won't let her hurt me, right ashikabi-sama?" She batted her eyelashes at him. She bit her lip timidly. He gulped nervously. Seriously, these girls were going to be the death of him.

"Right, just let go!" He yanked his arm free. "Look, take the bed and just go to sleep. I'm getting a headache."

"If that's what you want, ashikabi-sama. Good night." Oriha gave a curtsy, which was a rather indecent maneuver while only wearing a t-shirt, and headed into the bedroom once more. Madoka let out a long breath and leaned his back against the wall. If he didn't die in the crossfire first, the sexual tension was going give him a fatal aneurysm.

What had he gotten himself into this time? What kind of sekirei was Oriha? His first impression of her suggested she'd be a handful. The key thing is that she was a sekirei and he'd winged her. No matter what, she wasn't going away, at least not on her own, and would be devoted to him. So far she'd acted accordingly.

Now what? He didn't feel like going to bed. He was exhausted, but wide awake and his heart was still beating at a fair pace. He'd, literally, pushed away Sukaime, Benitsubasa was hiding in the bathroom still, and he'd told Oriha to go to sleep. He was sure Oriha was still awake, but he didn't feel like dealing with her right now. Sekirei tended to skip the "get to know you" period, and he wasn't comfortable with her yet. He was barely comfortable with Benitsubasa.

He pulled out his cellphone, figuring he should tell Kouji what had happened. He'd just give the short version so Kouji wouldn't wonder why he hadn't shown up. After that? Well, staring at the ceiling for a while sounded good. Hopefully he wouldn't be too sore in the morning. At least he didn't have to work the next day.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa was in a loathsome state. She could scarcely believe she was in the position she was in. If anyone were to see her she'd probably just kill herself rather than live with such embarrassment. Was this what it meant to have an ashikabi? Madoka was her ashikabi so he could hurt her all he wanted and she couldn't do a thing about it.

The one person who could hurt her the most was the only one she couldn't fight back against. She didn't want to fight back. She just wanted. She wanted him, his love, and his attention. She wanted him to be devoted to her like she was to him. Forever and ever.

* * *

><p><strong>So, I've been going through a lot of trouble to keep a time line of what's going on. In case you haven't been able to follow it, I'll give you a hand. As of this chapter, 48 days have passed. Yeah, I know right? You wouldn't think it, but a lot of time has passed in this fic!<strong>

**(Fixed up in batch two of my edits.)**

**Til' next time!**


	10. I Hate Quadrangles

**I Hate Quadrangles**

It was quiet. Too quiet. Maddeningly quiet. Madoka needed to get out. Sukaime was unusually silent, Benitsubasa seemed depressed, and Oriha didn't seem inclined to break the silence. There was no point in asking Benitsubasa what was wrong, it was obvious and he knew she'd just get offended. As for Sukaime, he just didn't have it in him to bring up their confrontation last night yet.

The tension in the air was poignant. If he stayed in the house with them any longer he was going to break. He needed an excuse to leave, alone, soon. Fortunately, just as those thoughts passed through his head, he had an idea.

"Err, now that we have _another_ person around-" he paused when he heard a low growl from Benitsubasa. Depressed _and _angry. That was more like her. "-I thought I'd go get more food. No killing while I'm gone." He wished he did have to make that request every time he left them alone. He then got up, snagging his wallet and shoes on his way to the door.

"I can go with you," Sukaime offered, moving to get up. Madoka shoved his last shoe on and opened the door.

"It's fine," he replied hastily and practically jumped out the door.

**. . .**

"Huh, wonder what his problem is," Sukaime muttered. She'd wanted to clear the air after last night. She'd been hoping he'd have said something by now. She had a very mixed opinion of Madoka, and right now it was leaning towards more of a bad one.

Or maybe not bad, but she wasn't impressed with him lately. Pushing her, then ignoring her, then running away. It was quite the laundry list of crap he had going. He'd also gotten another sekirei. She had to admit feeling a pang of jealousy. Knowing Benitsubasa, well, it was no wonder she was acting strangely. Benitsubasa had a jealous streak longer than the MBI tower was tall, and she was sure that she had more than a little growl bubbling deep within her.

"Does he normally reject you?" Oriha asked.

"No, normally he's having trouble decided whether he wants me, Benitsubasa, or both of us in bed," Sukaime gave her sassiest reply.

"Wh-what?" Oriha's eyes widened. Benitsubasa sounded like she was having trouble not choking in shock. Unfortunately, Oriha noticed Benitsubasa's startled reaction. "Hey, wait, you're lying!"

"I don't suppose you'd believe that she's just embarrassed?" Sukaime sighed, not even bothering to try to salvage the lie.

"Do you have to blab about everything we do?" Benitsubasa scoffed. This time Sukaime had to keep her own surprise from showing. Was Benitsubasa... really? She grinned uncontrollably, but it helped sell the act anyway.

"What? Best to let her know what she's going to get into. I mean, I won't mind another body in bed, will you?"

"W-wait, you _are_ serious?" Oriha looked ready to melt into a warm, squishy puddle of red-faced goo.

"I don't like her, I say we just make her watch," Benitsubasa muttered while inspecting her fingernails apathetically.

"Umm, uhh, w-watch what?"

"Madoka plowing u-" Sukaime cut herself off when Oriha slapped her hands over her eyes. She had to laugh. They'd caught an innocent one. Well, Madoka had. She and Benitsubasa were just tormenting her. "You're shy aren't you? All it takes is a little tall-tale to get you squirming."

"You _weren't_ serious?" Oriha's cheeks puffed up. Too easy.

"Hm hm, no, but it was fun watching you turn into a cherry. What other fruits can you do?"

"Moron," Benitsubasa added.

"Really? Well if I'm the moron then why does your own ashikabi run away from you? I mean look at _you,_" Oriha turned her attention on Benitsubasa. Sukaime immediately knew this wasn't going to end well.

"What _about_ me?" Benitsubasa seethed. She definitely didn't appreciate Oriha's back-talk.

"Ever since I got here all you do is sulk around. I don't think he even likes you. You ran off like a pathetic little piece of trash, and you know where I was during that? In his bed! All he had to say about you was that I should duck, but I think he was wrong, you're nobody to worry about. So why don't you just run off like a good girl!" If Oriha got any higher on her horse her head was going to bust through the ceiling. Sukaime was cringing, it was only a matter of time until...

**. . .**

Everything went black. Or was it red? Benitsubasa didn't even know. All she knew is that once second she was counting off the different ways she could kill Oriha, and the next she had the little bitch pinned against the wall, her forearm across the girl's throat. She couldn't take it. She hated her. Hate, hate, hate, it was the only thing she could feel. She was going to smash this whore's head through the wall!

She cocked her fist back, ready to terminate Oriha before she could spew one more vile word. Just one punch. Finally, finally she could let out some of this rage. Masukagami, Sukaime, Namiji, and now Oriha. The list of sekirei she'd been forced to let live was getting too long. It was time to shorten it.

"Let her go!" Her fist stopped. Madoka? No, he wasn't here. So why had she stopped – listened? Was she seriously so used to sparing sekirei when told to that all it took was a few words to halt her? Was she really that weak?

"No! I'm done with this!" Benitsubasa shouted, her fist tightening, so badly wanting to make Oriha bleed. No, not enough. She wanted her lying broken on the floor.

"Madoka would be mad. I don't want to take any flak because I let you terminate Oriha. Besides, you break the house and he'll be even more pissed," Sukaime explained, peering over the back of the couch. This was why she hated her. She never shut up. She always knew what to say to get under her skin. "You think it's tough to get his attention now? He'll probably kick you out if you do this. That's right, back on the street, except no one is coming to scoop you up now."

Something was shaking. An earthquake? A large truck driving by? No, it was her. She felt weak. _No one is coming_. The words rang through her head. She couldn't lose Madoka, but did she even really have him? He seemed to get farther away every day. She let go.

She watched Oriha slump to the ground, looking relieved.

"Good, now why don't we all just find someplace that isn't near each other and relax," Sukaime said, returning to her lounging and disappearing back behind the couch. Benitsubasa turned to leave before she changed her mind and killed someone anyway. She couldn't be in this room anymore.

"That's right, behave," Oriha said snidely. Benitsubasa could _hear _her smirking. Suddenly the shaking in her body stopped. Time seemed to stand still as she spun around. Her fist sailed into Oriha's face. She went down. It felt... she felt nothing.

**. . .**

Yep. She'd seen that coming. The only question was had Oriha survived that. Sukaime groaned and pulled herself off the couch. By the time she stood up Benitsubasa had already left the room. Oriha was propping herself up with one arm and clutching her cheek with the other.

"You deserved that you know," Sukaime said, placing a hand on her hip.

"She hit me!" Oriha whined. "She's not allowed to hit me, is she?"

"Don't complain. You're lucky."

"Lucky? I'm in pain!" Oriha glared at her.

"Idiot, look at her. She's a hand-to-hand type. If she'd really hit you, there'd be more dents in the wall. She might as well have just tapped you. I suggest you learn from this and don't push your luck, or next time I'll have to scrape you off the floor." Sukaime shook her head. Where had Madoka found this one?

**. . .**

Madoka was starting to realize the limitations of walking everywhere. When he was alone, he could carry plenty of food from the store back home. At worst it was exercise. With now two sekirei and the black hole of Benitsubasa living with him, keeping food on the shelves was going to be... difficult.

Finally he had to swallow his pride and put the heavy bags of food down for a few minutes. No, not because he was tired - or so he told himself. His cellphone was ringing. He refused to admit it happened to be convenient.

That said his bicep ached a little when he put the cellphone to his ear.

"Hello?" he spoke into the phone.

"_Madoka-kun. It's Avaron."_

"Oh, hey. You've been scarce lately. Everything OK?"

"_I'm fine," _she spoke stiffly. _"A little lonely though. Are you busy?"_

"Umm, a little..."

"_Oh. Never mind then."_

"Wait. Gimme a bit, I can make myself not busy. Do you want to meet up?" He wasn't sure what he'd regret more; not meeting up with Avaron, or Benitsubasa's unbridled fury when she found out about this. Then again, Benitsubasa was a lot more subdued than usual. He knew he should have been concerned, but he wasn't going to complain if she refrained from screaming and death threats.

"_Well... if you want to. Please."_

"No problem. I'll call you back soon."

**. . .**

Madoka arrived back at his house and found Sukaime as the only one there to greet him when she walked out of the living room.

"Anything fun happen while I was gone?" Madoka asked.

"Hm, I had to play peacekeeper, but that's all," Sukaime told him.

"You? Keeping the peace? Really?" Madoka found that surprising. Normally Sukaime was the instigator.

"You know how Benitsubasa and I don't get along? It's worse with Oriha," she explained. "She's.. mostly intact."

"Seriously?" Madoka's shoulders slumped. Oriha had seemed fairly sweet and innocent. Though, she'd been rather blunt when first meeting Benitsubasa. He'd have to have a talk with her later. "Wait, mostly?"

"She poked things which should not have poked. But I kept her alive and the monster is hiding in her cave for now. Nothing to worry about."

"Dammit. Thanks. But hey, earn your keep and go put this stuff away in the kitchen." Madoka held out the food bags for Sukaime to take. Sukaime didn't look especially pleased to be saddled with the chore, but didn't complain. It was funny to watch the small sekirei carry all the bags at once. It was like watching an ant carrying a huge bread crumb.

Once Sukaime walked into the kitchen and out of sight he glanced about quickly. Certain there were no witnesses he quickly darted back out of the house. He felt bad leaving without telling anyone, but he really didn't want to have to go through the trouble of explaining what he was doing.

There would be a hellish backlash upon his return though. He groaned, he could still turn back. It wasn't too late. He pulled out his cellphone.

"Avaron?" he said when the call went through.

"_You really called,"_ she responded.

"What, you didn't think I was telling the truth?"

"_No, I... are we going to meet somewhere?"_

**. . .**

Her jaw was killing her. Had Benitsubasa seriously been holding back? She shuddered a little. What if she hadn't? Would she even still be alive? How strong was Benitsubasa supposed to be? Oriha tried to put it out of her mind.

She was sitting in the kitchen at the dining table. It was the only unoccupied place left to sit. Sukaime had the couch, Benitsubasa was in Madoka's room, so she was stuck with the hard, wooden chairs. The chairs weren't especially uncomfortable, but she couldn't imagine sitting there for hours on end without getting a sore rear.

As she was contemplating the multiple sources of discomfort afflicting her, Sukaime walked into the room, awkwardly carrying far too many bags of groceries.

"Is Madoka back?" she asked the teal-haired sekirei.

"Yep. He's starting to use us for slave labor now, apparently." Sukaime smirked and placed the bags on the table. "Help me put these away and I won't tell him what you said to Benitsubasa."

"Why should I care what you tell him?"

"Don't be stupid, Benitsubasa is his first sekirei, she's his favorite. Do you want me to tell him you were insulting his favorite?" Oriha's eyes widened. What would happen if Sukaime followed through with that threat?

"Fine, fine, I'll help," she gave in. She had been planning on complaining to Madoka, but maybe that wouldn't be such a good idea after all. It wasn't that hard to figure out where everything went, there were scarce few places for the food to go. It couldn't have taken them more than five minutes to put it all away.

"Where's Madoka-kun? I thought I heard the door." Oriha turned to see Benitsubasa poking her head into the room. She didn't dare answer. It was probably best to just ignore the crazy bitch for the foreseeable future and hope for the best.

"He's around. He just had me put the groceries away," Sukaime replied.

"Well I haven't seen him. Did you hallucinate?" Benitsubasa frowned. Oriha exchanged a confused glance with Sukaime. Unless Sukaime's power was making food materialize out of thin air, someone had to have given her those bags.

"You must have missed him, come on. Between the three of us, maybe we can hold him down an-" Sukaime was cut off when Benitsubasa shook her head and walked away. Sukaime moved to follow her and Oriha sighed and went along as well.

The three left the kitchen and went room to room, but there was no sign of Madoka.

"Madoka-kun, you sly fox you." Sukaime chuckled.

"What are you talking about?" Oriha gave her a funny look.

"He gave me those bags so I wouldn't notice him leave again. He's obviously doing something he doesn't want us to know about."

"That's it, I'm hunting him down!" Benitsubasa growled and stomped off towards the front door.

"Right, and where are you going to look?" Sukaime crossed her arms.

"I... well..." Benitsubasa hung her head in defeat. Oriha had to keep herself from laughing. Benitsubasa was not the sharpest bulb in the toolbox.

"What were you going to do when you found him anyway?" Oriha asked. So much for her plan to ignore Benitsubasa, but she couldn't help herself.

"Drag his ass back here so he can watch me skin you alive," Benitsubasa threatened icily. Right then, back to keeping her mouth shut.

"Forget about it, he'll be fine. I'm going to take another nap." Sukaime shrugged and sauntered off to the couch. Benitsubasa just turned and grumbled her way back to Madoka's room. Oriha sighed; it back to sitting in the bruise inducing kitchen chair.

Was this seriously all she had to look forward to?

**. . .**

"Thank you for seeing me," Avaron said. She and Madoka were sitting on the same bench where they had met Kouji a few days prior.

"No problem, it's been a while. Where's Masukagami? You two were inseparable," Madoka commented. He remembered how Avaron had been clinging to her sekirei the day she'd visited his place.

"Oh, um, well sometimes she can be smothering." Avaron scratched her forearm nervously.

"I know the feeling." Madoka chuckled.

"She's always around, but I still feel lonely. It's not like you would want to keep me company, but I don't have anyone el-"

"Wait what? How can you say that? I'm here aren't I?" Madoka raised an eyebrow. He wasn't sure he'd classify Avaron as a true friend yet, but to say he disliked her company would be a lie. She was strange, but not unpleasant.

"I... I suppose. I'm sorry."

"So what, I'm the only person you know?"

"The only one I care to talk to," Avaron mumbled, fidgeting with her thumbs.

"Wow, that's pretty bad. I'm not anyone to brag about." Madoka forced an amused smile.

"Do you have many friends?" Avaron asked. Madoka's smile faded and he hung his head.

"Yeah, no, I guess I shouldn't talk."

"I was just asking..."

An incredibly awkward silence grew. Madoka couldn't think of anything to say. Avaron wasn't being talkative either. He leaned back in the bench and placed his hands by his side on the bench. His left hand found that the bench was warm... and soft. He probably wasn't touching the bench. He looked and saw he's accidentally placed his hand upon Avaron's.

He quickly pulled it away, but Avaron's hand caught his.

"Your hand is cold," she said.

"Are you sure your hand isn't just extra warm?" Madoka laughed nervously. What was she doing? His eyes widened when she clasped his hand between both of hers. Her hands really were warm. She suddenly leaned over and breathed out onto his hand. Her hot breath rolled across his skin, making his hair stand on end.

His heart was pounding. He had no idea what to make of this. Was she flirting with him, or was she honestly just trying to warm his hand up? But then who the hell did that?

His felt his question was answered when she suddenly moved to sit much closer to him. He looked and saw that her face was tinged a light shade of pink. Her lips pulled back into a little smile. She was just looking down at his hand in hers, not even noticing as he looked her over with a shocked expression.

The way she was leaning over ever so slightly allowed him to see down her dress. He did his best to avert his eyes, but found them wandering back down almost against his will. Or perhaps according to it, not that he would never admit it. She wasn't that busty, but it was still a nice view.

He had to end this awkward moment. He had to say something. He had to find another place for his eyes to rest. She looked up. His eyes shot up to hers. Too late?

"Is that better?" she asked.

"Umm, y-yeah. Much warmer. Th-thanks," he stuttered nervously. He normally wasn't this nervous with women, but the way she was acting and the suddenness of it all was throwing him off. It didn't help when she suddenly leaned over even more, once again testing his resolve. However, what really got to him was when her lips pressed against his hand.

"Good," she spoke. He felt her say it, her lips brushing against the back of his hand. What was going on? Why was she doing this? If Benitsubasa found out about this...

He suddenly jerked his hand away, startling Avaron. He was unsure what had suddenly snapped him out of the trance Avaron had put him in. He'd just though about Benitsubasa for a split second. Had that really been it? He shook his head.

"Sorry, you, uhh, caught me off guard," Madoka spoke uncertainly. Avaron wasn't looking at him anymore, her hands gripping her knees, eyes aimed at the ground.

"No, I shouldn't have... never mind. I'm going home." She stood up suddenly and turned to leave.

"Hey, wait." Madoka stood up as well and caught her elbow. The next moment was a blur, but the next thing he knew Avaron had spun about and captured his lips with hers. He stood, feeling like time had stopped. When his mind finally caught up what felt like an hour later he quickly pulled away. Avaron stepped away as well.

"I'll see you soon," she said calmly and walked off.

"Y-yeah, sure..." He blinked. What. The. Fuck?

**. . .**

She was going to have a heart attack at this rate. She didn't care how resilient being a sekirei made her. The stress was going to make her heart explode. Benitsubasa had interrogated, or at least tried to, Madoka when he'd finally gotten home. He hadn't been very forthcoming, which made her suspicious. Also it just plain bothered her that he wouldn't tell her something. Did he not trust her?

Now it was Monday, so of course Madoka was away at work, leaving her home to brood about the whole issue in maddening silence. Maybe she should try and use Madoka's T.V. No one ever seemed to use the thing which looked to be a bit of an antique. But of course she'd given up the couch to Sukaime. That left her pacing back and forth in the hallway.

"You're going to wear a hole in the floor," she was snapped out of her thoughts by the ever intrusive Sukaime.

"Sorry, am I disturbing you?" Benitsubasa asked.

"Oh? What's this? Are you using manners?" Sukaime looked impressed.

"No, I'm being hopeful." She glared and stood still.

"Right, manners were too much to expect from you I suppose. Such a neanderthal." Sukaime smirked.

"Keep it up and I'll wear a hole in your face."

"Hm, so what has you so worked up?"

"Nothing."

"Is it because Madoka is sneaking about behind our backs?" Sukaime guessed... correctly.

"No!" Benitsubasa glared at her. Couldn't she ever just drop something before it got her pissed off?

"Liar."

"Why do you care?" Benitsubasa hissed.

"What do you think he's up to? He wouldn't tell you, would he? You're such an angry little brute, he probably doesn't think he can talk to you. I mean, wouldn't you just blow up in his face? Who _would_ want to deal with you?"

Benitsubasa winced at that. That bitch! But... wasn't she right? Madoka wouldn't talk to her, in fact he was probably avoiding her. But why shouldn't he? He didn't love her, that was well established.

"Leave me alone!" Benitsubasa snapped and ran off to the bathroom. Her little fortress of solitude, the one room that had a lockable door. One of only two rooms with a door, period, unless one counted the laundry closet. She leaned against the bathroom counter and slowly slid to a sitting position. She ran a hand through her hair which wasn't currently tied up.

This was impossible. She'd never survive this, never mind the fighting. She was going to die just from the pain in her heart. She was going to cry. She couldn't believe it, but she could feel it welling up inside her.

"Don't, just don't," she choked out. She'd never forgive herself if she cried. She'd rather die. She shut her eyes, squeezing a tear out. "D-dammit." Her body had betrayed her. She couldn't help it. It wasn't like she wanted to cry. That's what she told herself.

She did though, she just wanted to let go. She felt weak. She was growing weaker by the second. At this rate she'd be a sobbing mess. If Madoka were to see her like that she'd kill herself. She really would. She couldn't survive that kind of humiliation.

The door opened. She'd forgotten to lock it. Whoever it was had two seconds to leave or they were dead.

"How rude, just walking away in the middle of a conversation." Of course it would be Sukaime. She frantically wiped the solitary tear off her face. "Wait... are... are you crying?" Benitsubasa grit her teeth. She was going to kill her.

"I don't cry!" she growled angrily, glowering at Sukaime.

"Hmm. No, you don't." Sukaime then shut the door and left. Benitsubasa was dumbfounded. Just like that? She'd left? She didn't understand. She decided it didn't matter.

She didn't feel like crying anymore.

**. . .**

It was almost time for him to leave work for home. Benitsubasa would be showing up soon. Possibly Sukaime and even Oriha if she chose to follow them. He was going to start looking conspicuous with so many girls following him around.

Right at that time more customers showed up. Probably the last few for the day. Just some guy who looked like he should be in college and... his eyes nearly bugged out of his head. No, not because the girl with him had substantial breasts, but because of the way she was dressed. She had a white, long sleeved top, a dangerously short, pleated skirt, boots, and martial arts gloves. Martial arts gloves almost exactly like what Benitsubasa wore. She also had long, brown hair tied off with a ribbon. She stood out so much he almost didn't notice the little girl in a plain, white dress that was also with them. Her blonde hair went almost to her knees.

She had to be a sekirei. Was the little girl one too? Oh god... They were walking towards him!

"Excuse me," the young man said. "Where do you keep your rice?"

"Errr, over there." Madoka pointed.

"Are they big bags?"

"Define big."

"Well, we need fifty kilos." Madoka nearly coughed up a lung. Fifty? How were they going to carry that back?

"I, uhh, we should have that yeah. How do you plan on carrying all that though?"

"I can do it!" The well endowed girl chirped. She was going to carry 50 kilos? Definitely a sekirei.

"N-no kidding? You, uh, must be strong," Madoka said. It wasn't impossible to carry that much rice, but it would certainly be exhausting for the average person before long.

"Yep! I'm a s-"

"She's a martial artist, trains a lot, yeah. Even I can hardly believe it sometimes," the young man spoke for her, laughing nervously.

"R-right, of course." Madoka chuckled. Nothing like being obvious about a lie to make a conversation awkward.

"Are you OK, niichan?" The little girl tugged at his pant leg.

"Wh-what?"

"Kuu-chan's right, you look a little nervous," the older girl said.

"What, no, I'm f-fine. You should just hurry and get your rice. N-not getting any fresher." Right, because dry rice lost its freshness over time. Not his brightest moment.

"Are you sure?" His face went bright red when she placed a hand on his forehead.

"M-Musubi, come on, leave him alone." The young man laughed weakly. "Sorry about that."

"But Minato-sama, he's burning up!" Musubi turned to face the young man, Minato.

"Please let go." Madoka pulled Musubi's hand away. "Look, I know what you are, so just hurry and go."

"Wh-what? You mean you're-" Minato looked shocked.

"Yeah, and my sekirei aren't so friendly. I don't care if you shop here, come every day if you want, but my sekirei like to walk me home, and it's almost closing time," Madoka laid it out for them.

"How long until closing time?" Musubi asked.

"Maybe twenty minutes," Madoka told her. There was nothing to stop Benitsubasa from showing up early though.

"That's not too long. We can wait!" Musubi smiled excitedly. Wait, what?

"M-Musubi." Minato looked embarrassed. Madoka understood the feeling, but he really didn't have time to be sympathetic right now.

"You're missing the point. One of my sekirei is violent, if she realizes you're one too she'll pick a fight!" Madoka hissed. "I'd rather avoid that."

"Why? Is she weak?" Musubi titled her head curiously. Madoka's face fell into his palm. What was with this girl? She seemed sweet, but...

"Only if you consider weightlifting dumpsters a sign of weakness," Madoka mumbled into his palm. This girl was going to give him an aneurysm.

"Wow! I want to meet her!" Madoka was pretty sure "meet" meant "fight."

"Musubi, we really shouldn't keep Miya waiting," Minato spoke up. Finally.

"Oh, right." Musubi's eyes went wide. Madoka sighed, showed them to the rice, and got them checked out with minutes to spare. And after all that effort... none of his sekirei showed up.

For the first time in a while, he was walking home alone. To his surprise, he actually missed Benitsubasa. His arm felt like it didn't weigh enough without her hanging on it. He wondered why she wasn't there. Usually he could have set the clock by her arrival.

His thoughts shifted back to Minato and his sekirei. He'd never seen him before, so he probably hadn't shopped at the little mart before. Of course, he wasn't anyone particularly noteworthy. For all he knew, Minato had been a regular customer, blending into the background and only now sticking out because of his sekirei.

His sekirei Musubi had been eager to "meet" Benitsubasa. Now that they knew about him, would they be back? If so, would he have a fight on his hands? How strong was Musubi? What abilities did the little blonde girl possess?

His heart was racing with worry. Was he scared? Why should he be? He was just the ashikabi, he didn't have to fight. Benitsubasa did though. The thought brought a twinge to his chest. He'd watched her fight before, but it had always been spontaneous, unexpected. This was looming over him like a bad omen. What if she didn't win this time?

What if he lost Benitsubasa?

* * *

><p><strong>Test time. There are two quadrangles in this fic now. Name them. <strong>

**Or don't, but I wonder how many people know what I'm getting at. Hehe.**

**(Fixed up in batch two of my edits.)**

**Til' next time!**


	11. First Special

**This is a "special" chapter, focusing largely on just one character. It's all still relevant though.**

* * *

><p><strong>Sukaime's Walk<strong>

Sukaime was doing what she always did: sitting on the couch she'd conquered and won from Benitsubasa, bored out of her skull, waiting for Madoka to come home. She let out a long sigh. She really needed a hobby; there was nothing to do there.

She wondered why the three of them just stayed there all day. Benitsubasa of course had told her the story of how she'd almost been terminated when she'd gone out alone, but she wasn't alone anymore. Of course, they hardly got along. She supposed there wasn't much appeal in all of them going out together. They'd probably end up splitting up before long.

Sukaime pursed her lips, remembering a talk she'd had with Madoka last night.

_~Flashback~_

"_Can I talk to you for a moment?" Madoka had asked her. She nodded and he led her to his room. How mysterious. She wondered what he was up to. Knowing him, it was probably nothing special though. She was still curious of course. Ever since he'd brought Oriha back things had been tense between, well, all of them. _

_Oriha wasn't fitting in well, Benitsubasa had nearly had a total mental break down, and Sukaime herself had gotten into an uncomfortable altercation with Madoka. So what did he want with her? Only one way to find out. She sat down next to him on his bed and stared at him intently._

"_Hm? What is it?"_ _she asked._

"_I noticed something and it's been bothering me. Benitsubasa basically forced herself on me. She told me she'd reacted to me, that she knew I should be her ashikabi. Then when I found Oriha she definitely wanted to be winged by me, so I'm guessing she must have reacted to me too. But you, even now you're so calm and casual about everything. I had to ask you_ _to be my sekirei," he explained. She smiled a little. He payed attention. She liked that. She knew what he would ask next. "Did you react to me?"_

"_Oh? Why do you want to know? Do you want to be sure I'll be loyal? Do you want to make sure I'm devoted to you? Once you wing a sekirei, she's yours. I'm yours. Do you want to kiss me? Touch me? More than that? I _want _to do those things with you, so what are you worrying about?"_ _She sidled over to him and leaned against him. She started to put an arm around him but he moved away._

"_Don't change the subject," he said. He was quite serious. She supposed all she could do was answer him. Oh well. She admired him though, that strength of will. He'd winged three sekirei and he hadn't given in to any sexual desires. He had to have thought about what he could do with them at least once by now. Oh it was maddening of course, she wished he'd give in, she knew Benitsubasa _really _wanted him to give in, but he didn't_. _But strength of character was hardly a bad thing. She'd live with it... for now._

"_Fine, you want to know? I didn't." There, she'd said it. It was out. He wasn't the one, not for her. Too late now though, winging was permanent. Madoka didn't respond. He was silent for a while, hands clasped together tightly, staring at the floor. Did he feel guilty? That was cute. Adorable. She couldn't complain too much that she'd ended up with him. He definitely needed to loosen up though._

"_Sorry. I wish you'd been able to find who was supposed to wing you," he mumbled. Oh yes, it was definitely bothering him. Time to rub salt on the wound._

"_Ah, I did, actually. When you found me, I'd been on my way to meet her. I'd found her the day before, but she wasn't ready, so I gave her some time to think about it. The pair you rescued me from ruined all that." Just as she'd suspected, he didn't like hearing that. He placed a hand over his mouth. She could read people, right now he was subconsciously trying to hide from her, hide his guilt. Alright, she'd let him squirm long enough. She'd let out the tiny bit of resentment and anger she'd always felt about the situation._

_Oh most of that anger was directed at the pair who'd initially foiled her plans to meet the ashikabi she'd reacted to, and she'd found it very cathartic to terminate the sekirei involved. But now she'd finally let it all out. She couldn't blame Madoka, not anymore._

"_Hmm, but you saved me from those two. I'd rather have you, my hero, than that greedy ashikabi. I'm happy enough."_

"_Yeah, but..."_

"_But nothing, Madoka-kun, you needed me to protect Benitsubasa-chan. Oh, at the time I wouldn't have cared if she was terminated, but now that I know her... she's funny. Hm, not a comedian exactly, but I like to think my life is more amusing with her around. And you, you couldn't just let your sekirei be terminated, you did what you had to. If that's the kind of ashikabi I have, I'm in the best place I can be right now," Sukaime told him. She reached up and patted his cheek. "Now you go to bed and stop worrying so much. Want a kiss goodnight?"_

"_Fine, fine." He quickly leaned away though. "But no kiss."_

"_You have to give in someday." She smirked and hopped off the bed. She made sure to sway her hips flirtatiously as she walked to advertise what he was missing out on._

_~End Flashback~_

She couldn't take it anymore, she was going out for a walk. She slid off the couch and made her way to the door. On the way she passed Benitsubasa holding a box of cereal, eating out of it with her bare hands. Such a barbarian. What was more, breakfast had been hours ago.

"Where arf fyoo ghoin?" Benitsubasa asked, mouth full, as Sukaime reached for the door.

"It's not polite to eat with your mouth full," Sukaime told her. She wiped her cheek off with the back of her wrist. "I think you got some on me."

Benitsubasa swallowed. "Whatever. Where are you going?"

"Out." Without another word, Sukaime opened the door and left.

She wasn't sure where she was going, but before long she realized where her current route would take her. If she'd taken a right when leaving she could have gone to Madoka's job, but she'd taken a left. If she went far enough she'd reach the place where Madoka had winged her.

She chuckled and shook her head. Was there some meaning to this? Had she just subconsciously gone in that direction because of her talk with Madoka? She was walking slowly so over an hour passed before she got there. She looked at the fence she'd jumped over. It had been rebuilt. Nothing to suggest a fight had ever happened.

She sighed and just kept going. She walked until she didn't even recognize her surroundings. Her head was buzzing now. She grit her teeth. Why couldn't she get that damn conversation out of her head.

"_Did you react to me?"_

"_I didn't."_

And so what? She couldn't change it. She was winged. The bastard had winged her. No, he wasn't a bastard. He was good to her. She should be grateful. Grateful that he'd stolen her?

"I kissed him! It's my fault!" she growled to herself. "My fault, _my_ fault! Stop being an idiot!" Her hands balled into tight fists, her nails digging into her palms. Her gloves were the only thing that kept her from bleeding. He'd had to bring it up, didn't he? She could have just gone on pretending like nothing was out of the ordinary, but no, he'd brought it up. She clutched at her head as her thoughts continued to race unchecked.

"_But you, even now you're so calm and casual about everything."_

"Ah, my fault again." She chuckled mirthlessly, arms going limp in defeat. She looked up at the sun. It hurt her eyes. If she stared long enough would it burn the thoughts out of her mind? She shut her eyes and looked back down. Madoka would be getting out of work soon. She should probably be heading home. She wasn't sure what she'd expected walking to do for her, but it wasn't helping.

She passed by the fence again and stopped. She looked down the road that would take her home, then back at the fence. She had to do it. She ran and jumped over the fence. She had to check on something. She had to know.

On the other side of the fence was an empty lot where a house had been demolished. Construction on anything new had yet to begin, and the fence only existed in a feeble attempt to keep people from making a mess. There was little to see, but what _was _there had Sukaime transfixed.

On an old tree stump sat a petite girl in an extravagant dress. It was black with white frills and red stitching. She had her dark hair tied up into pigtails. She sat quietly, her face with soft features staring at a drawing pad propped up in her lap. It seemed she hadn't spotted Sukaime as she simply kept drawing even when Sukaime began to slowly walk over.

Finally, just before she got into arms reach, the girl looked up.

"Oh! Sukaime! Look!" The girl turned the drawing pad around and held it for Sukaime to see. It was almost like looking in a mirror. The girl had drawn Sukaime's face with impeccable precision.

"You... have you been waiting this whole time?" Sukaime whispered, shocked.

"No, I missed a few days. I'm glad I didn't miss you!" The girl placed the pad flat on her lap and looked up at Sukaime.

"Why? Why would you wait so long? I wasn't here when I said I'd be!" Sukaime shook her head violently. She couldn't take it. This was more than she could bear. Guilt fought with despair within her.

"Well..." The girl looked down. "I figured someone like you was worth waiting for."

"Some... someone like me?" Whatever this girl saw in her, Sukaime couldn't see it no matter how deep within herself she looked.

"I was looking for something to draw. This empty lot was quiet, the birds like it here. Then you showed up and talked to me. I don't really know anyone I can talk to. Even when I didn't have anything to say, you kept talking to me. You made me laugh. You were nice to me. Even if you'd never showed up, sitting here was better than anything else I could have been doing," the girl explained with a sad little smile. Each word nearly brought Sukaime to her knees. "You're special."

"No I'm not. I'm a coward who couldn't keep her promise." Sukaime hid her face behind her hands. She couldn't even properly coexist with her ashikabi. Maybe it was for the best it had turned out this way.

"How can you say that? You made me happy and then told me what you are. I never knew anything like sekirei existed. Then you told me you could be all mine!" The girl put her drawing pad on the ground and stood up. "Umm, how do I do that?"

"No. It's too late." Sukaime hung her head, biting back tears.

"B-but you said that when you came back and if I was ready-"

"I told you, I'm a coward. I messed up. I belong to someone else now." She couldn't look at her. She felt like a liar.

Just over two weeks ago, before Madoka had winged her, she'd been wandering as most sekirei would be doing before being winged. She'd stumbled across this empty lot and spotted a girl, the girl before her now, sitting in the same spot she'd found her today. She'd immediately reacted to her. She hadn't been able to keep her mouth shut.

She'd just talked and talked to the startled girl about anything that came to mind. The girl had warmed up to her before long. With the way she smiled, the way she'd laughed, she'd been, was, adorable. Beautiful. Her name was Chiasa. She'd been unable to keep her identity as a sekirei a secret, she'd had to try. She'd practically begged to be winged, but Chiasa hadn't been ready.

So she'd left, saying she'd come back and meet her to see if she'd be willing after she had time to think about it. Early the next morning she'd made her way there only to be attacked by the large, blade-wielding sekirei Madoka and Benitsubasa had saved her from. Out of desperation, or perhaps obligation, she'd let him wing her.

She'd given up the ashikabi meant for her so quickly. Why had she? She hadn't reacted to Madoka, she should have just run and come back later. And then Benitsubasa would have been terminated. The thought filled her with a fresh wave of guilt. How selfish could she be?

"What do you mean? Somebody else?" Chiasa's lip quivered. Sukaime had to look away again.

"Sit back down, I'll tell you everything." And so she did. She told the story of how she'd met and been winged by Madoka. Then she went on to the events of the following two weeks. How she got along, or didn't, with Benitsubasa, meeting Masukagami and Avaron, and later Namiji and Kouji, and lastly when Madoka had brought Oriha home. She left out very little. Thinking about it, a lot had happened. It felt like so long.

"So... are you happy?" Chiasa asked, her knees now tucked up against her chest.

"I guess so. It's weird. I don't get along with Benitsubasa at all, but I keep finding excuses to talk to her. She's amusing. It's stupid though, how I keep torturing her for fun. One of these days I'm just going to ruin everything." She shook her head. "I could probably get along with her better if I wanted to. It would make Madoka happy if I did. But then I just go and do something horrible again."

"And this Madoka... he takes good care of you?"

"Oh yeah, he's not the friendliest person all the time, but he's pretty responsible. I guess I like him, and I pretend that I'm totally into him. Again it's me, I flirt with him like I want him, but I know that he won't respond to that. I don't even know why I do what I do half the time." Sukaime laughed and felt a tear roll down her cheek. "I guess I just never got over you."

"So I can't have you? Ever?" Chiasa asked. Sukaime shook her head slowly.

"Sorry."

"Then... I... you should get over me. You don't know me anyway." Chiasa looked away from her.

"I... well... but I reacted to you. It's not that easy."

"Are you still reacting to me?" The question made Sukaime pause. Sure she regretted that she'd missed the ashikabi meant for her, and yes the memories still burned hot inside her, but... her heart wasn't hammering like it had when she'd first met Chiasa. It throbbed with sorrow at the knowledge of what she'd missed, but that was all.

"No. I'm not," Sukaime finally said it.

"You said you like Madoka. Do you _like_ like him?" Chiasa glanced back at her.

"_Wait! Please... you have to help her!"_ She remembered it vividly. That look of worry, almost desperation in Madoka's eye that day. If she was in trouble, would he worry about her like that too? She wanted someone to worry about her like that. She... she wanted _him_ to worry over her like that. She wanted her ashikabi to think about her, care about her, obsess over her. She wanted the one who had kissed her, winged her, given her that feeling of fullness to love her.

Was it just because she'd been winged that she thought this way? He'd winged her, she was his whether she liked it or not. Maybe she liked it. Was she glad that he'd winged her, or glad_ because_ he'd winged her? Did it matter? That's what she felt now. Maybe she should just let go, just let the feeling sweep her away.

Maybe it was time to stop fighting it. She was Madoka's sekirei. She'd been the one to kiss him. She'd made that pact to be his. Forever and ever.

"I think... yeah. Yeah, I do." Suddenly Sukaime felt herself smiling. "I'm his now. Sorry."

"It's OK. You can't do anything about it, can you?" Chiasa asked. Whether out of understanding or disappointment, Sukaime wasn't sure.

"Nope." Sukaime shook her head. Even if she could, right now? She wasn't sure she would. Chiasa was still cute though. Definitely her type. Oh well. "I should get home now. Maybe I'll see you again sometime. I'd miss you." She suddenly leaned forward and kissed Chiasa on the forehead, making the girl gasp in surprise. "Bye."

**. . .**

Madoka was busy making food, a task that had once been easy. Feeding himself wasn't much of a challenge, but making enough food for four people? Not so much. Unfortunately Benitsubasa was a bit of picky eater and tended to dislike anything frozen or instant so that didn't give him many easy options for making dinner.

As he was making the effort one thing was on his mind. Once he made this meal for four, would there be four people to eat it? Sukaime was missing. Part of him wondered if he shouldn't be looking for her. But where would he even look? According to Benitsubasa she'd been gone for hours. Should that worry him? Sukaime could take care of herself, but there were strong sekirei out there.

The day he'd winged Oriha had taught him through experience that he wasn't the only person with multiple sekirei and Masukagami had mentioned that she'd fought two as well. Was Sukaime capable of winning a fight like that?

He heard a knock on the door. He quickly stopped what he was doing and went to answer it. It had to be Sukaime. Who else could it be? Sure enough, standing there when he opened the door was Sukaime. She looked perfectly fine. What he hadn't expected at all was for Sukaime to step forward and press up against him, resting her head against his chest and gripping his shirt.

"Umm, Sukaime?" He looked down at her, totally bewildered. After a second she looked back up at him. For a moment she was unrecognizable. There was no coy smirk, no plotting gleam in her eye. She looked innocent.

"Please don't doubt me anymore, OK?" she asked him.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm your sekirei. I belong to you and I'm happy with that. So don't doubt me. Please." She one more placed her head against his chest.

"Uh, yeah... sure. All right." He tentatively placed a hand on her shoulder. "So, where were you?" he asked, eager for a change of subject. It wasn't that this side of Sukaime wasn't... endearing, but he simply wasn't sure how to react.

"Hmm, were you worried?" She pulled away from him, clasping her hands behind her back.

"Not at all. You disappearing for hours on end isn't even on my radar of concerns." Madoka rolled his eyes. Sukaime giggled.

"Thank you." She smiled and Madoka suddenly felt a little too warm. When had Sukaime gotten cute?

"What? I said I wasn't worried." He rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Oh, of course not."

"And, about uh, when I-"

"I forgive you, don't worry about it," she told him. Well, that had been almost too easy. He'd been feeling guilty about pushing her for a while, and delaying talking about it for so long had exacerbated that. "I know I can be a pain. Just don't make it a habit, 'kay?"

"R-right, um, are you hungry?" he asked, clearing his throat.

"Yeah! I was walking for while." Sukaime finally stepped in so he could close the door.

"Well dinner's not done yet, but I'm working on it," Madoka told her.

"Can I help?"

"Really? Uh, sure." Madoka was surprised by the offer. Maybe making food wouldn't be such a chore now.

"Ohh, you'll regret that. I've never cooked a day in my life!"

"Hey, I want to help too!" Oriha suddenly poked her head into the hallway.

"Hm, trade that dress for an apron... and... nah, I wouldn't be able to focus." Sukaime grinned lecherously. That was more like her, and Oriha's horrified expression got Madoka laughing. His sekirei were a lot of trouble...

But it wasn't all bad.

* * *

><p><strong>Ahh, there's nothing like focusing on a character to make you like them more. Benitsubasa caught my interest as she was the type of character I really liked. Not some ridiculous girl with insane body proportions -coughMusubicough-, but the exact opposite and with a fiery attitude. All personality and very scary, but she also had some humorous moments where she was really cute. However, I wouldn't have called her a favorite character that I was totally in love with (not in a creepy way...) until I started writing this.<strong>

**Now as I focus on Sukaime for this chapter, I start to like her character more as she's getting more depth and more personality. She's smart, she's cute, and she has tons of charisma. Normally it's all hidden behind a wall of sarcasm and disarming wit. Finally we get a glimpse of what's underneath allowing her to blossom as a multidimensional character who does more than simply pry at people for her own amusement. And we find out why she's the way she is and get some foreshadowing as to how she may act in the future.**

**This was always one of my favorite chapters. I barely had to change a thing.**

**(Fixed up in batch three of my edits.)**

**Til' next time!**


	12. I Hate Multiplayer

**I Hate Multiplayer**

Weekends were a funny thing. They contained Benitsubasa's best and worst memories since being winged by Madoka. She remembered getting her new clothes with Madoka and him doing her hair, nut also more recently was the weekend when he'd winged Oriha. The annoying little twit had been around for a full week now.

At the very least, Oriha seemed to have learned her place and didn't bother her much. At the moment, Madoka was preparing dinner with her help. As it turned out, Oriha was apparently a talented cook. Sukaime on the other hand was more likely to end up burning a salad. Herself? For sure she was better than Sukaime, but Benitsubasa didn't care to bother with cooking. If Madoka wasn't there, she'd just eat cereal or something.

It was currently Friday night and she was lounging on Madoka's bed. It was actually kind of nice; it was more comfortable than the couch and she got to be in his room. On a more sour note, she wasn't looking forward to the next day. Kouji had called again and apparently Avaron had resurfaced. They were planning another get-together. If she wasn't allowed to terminate Masukagami and Namiji, couldn't they at least stay away? But no, Madoka insisted on playing nice.

Maybe she should get back at Madoka a little. Perhaps the cold shoulder treatment? She could drive him mad wondering what was wrong. Then again they hadn't been talking too much lately as it was, so maybe that wouldn't be very effective. She could take it a step farther and really let her aggravation show, but she wasn't sure how she felt about that. If she went too far and she could completely drive him away.

She couldn't just complain though. Sukaime had been right, complaining about Madoka's friends would only annoy him. By that logic she could try being... nice. After all, if complaining about them made him mad, then the opposite should make him like her right. Yes, it was so easy. Just be nice to them.

No way in hell was that happening. Damn it was infuriating.

"Benitsubasa," Madoka called out to her.

"WHAT!" she snapped. She propped herself up to see Madoka staring at her with a raised eyebrow from the doorway.

"Uhhh, dinner's ready?"

"Oh..."

"Bad mood?" he asked. She just grumbled and made her way out to eat. "Thank you for coming to get me Madoka, you take _such_ good care of me!" His sarcasm was not exactly becoming.

"Bite me." Actually... that wouldn't be so bad. Great, now she was going to be blushing all throughout dinner.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa woke up the next morning stiff and uncomfortable. Quite simply, the house didn't even come close to having enough room for the four of them, and sleeping on the floor was starting to catch up with her. She was seriously regretting giving Sukaime the couch. She hadn't slept well, she was sore, and... She groaned, it was Saturday. This was shaping up to be an absolutely miserable day.

Saturdays had used to be a somewhat good thing. Of course now that she thought about it, even that wasn't true. One Saturday, she'd had one good Saturday. Actually, aside from a few days, she didn't have many good days at all. Now she was depressed, too. She was going to snap and go on a killing spree at this rate.

She got up slowly and stretched, wincing as her back complained. Damn hardwood floors. She looked at the faint pink haze of clouds through window. It was still early; in fact she was the first one awake. She paced back and forth, bored. It was approaching two months now that she'd been living here. If she didn't find something to occupy herself she was going to start breaking things. Then Madoka would complain, Sukaime would tease her, and Oriha would just sit in her goddamn chair if she knew what was good for her.

She bit her lip as a pang of hunger hit her. Time to raid the cabinets for dry cereal. Sure it was sugary and made her sick if she ate too many handfuls, but she couldn't help if it was delicious. However, maybe a warm breakfast would be nice for once.

She made her way over to Oriha and looked down at the sleeping girl. She then promptly kicked her in the rear.

"Wake up!" she snapped sharply. Oriha groaned loudly and then cracked an eye open.

"What?" Oriha croaked sleepily. "Did you just kick me?"

"I'm hungry, make something," Benitsubasa demanded. Oriha rolled onto her back and looked up at her.

"Why should I? Seriously, did you kick me?"

"Because if you don't instead of kicking you I step on your throat and see how much pressure it takes to crush it, that's why." Benitsubasa crossed her arms. Would she really? Well, she might not _crush _Oriha's throat, but a little choking every now and then was good for you. Or maybe it wasn't, but she didn't really care.

Oriha hesitated, as if testing her, but grumbled a few choice words and then slowly made her way to the kitchen. Benitsubasa decided to kick her again to get her moving.

"Ow!" Oriha glared at her.

"Then next time don't call me a bitch."

"Wh-"

"Yeah, I heard you. Move it!" Benitsubasa twitched as if planning to kick her again. Oriha flinched and hastily did as she was told. Benitsubasa smirked once Oriha was out of the room. It was nice to have a punching bag.

Silently gloating over her control of Oriha, she followed the other sekirei into the kitchen to make sure she didn't spit in the food or something. She just found the dress-clad girl standing there looking annoyed.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" Benitsubasa asked impatiently.

"What would you like, _princess_, or should I just pick something and hope you're allergic?" Oriha scowled.

"Ooh, kitty has claws." Benitsubasa smirked. She didn't care at all if Oriha got pissy with her. She was nothing like Sukaime. Benitsubasa was fine with hostility; she could match it and then some. Well, as long as Madoka wasn't mentioned like last time.

"Forget it, I'm making what _I_ want and you'll just have to deal with it," Oriha muttered and started digging through the cabinets.

"Whatever, as long as it's hot," Benitsubasa told her.

"For you, it'll be scalding."

"Keep trying. I'm sure eventually you can provoke me into punching you again," Benitsubasa scoffed. Where had this little twit gotten all her courage? Last she'd known, Oriha had been cringing every time they walked into the same room. Maybe she was just grumpy in the morning.

As Oriha began cooking, Benitsubasa leaned on the counter and watched. She'd watched Madoka cook once or twice, and she had to admit Oriha made Madoka look sloppy. Every movement and measurement was precise. She was also just plain fast. She'd never admit that out loud though.

"So, how are you settling in? Almost a week now, right?" Benitsubasa asked her.

"Wh- Seriously?" Oriha looked suspicious.

"Sure, why not?"

"I sleep on the floor, Madoka's never here, and you beat me. But hey, I'm _fan_tastic. Thanks for asking," Oriha ranted and rolled her eyes. "Remind me why I'm not poisoning your food?"

"Grow a spine and deal with it."

"Deal with it? I deserve better than this! Madoka is supposed to be my prince, but now he's always busy. I just... I... why am I telling you this? You don't care!" Oriha brought the knife she was currently wielding down hard enough to cut into the cutting board she was using.

Benitsubasa didn't answer. What was she supposed to say? She could actually understand what Oriha was feeling. Another thing she wasn't prepared to admit to the girl.

"Well I've been living with him for over a month and I'm on the floor too. Like I said, deal with it. You just got here, you haven't earned the right to complain," Benitsubasa told her.

"Hmph, and what? You're going to hit me if I do?" Oriha challenged her.

"Good, we understand each other." Benitsubasa had barely gotten the words out of her mouth when Oriha whipped around and had the knife at her throat.

"Maybe I'm not just going to take it from you. I'm a sekirei, I'm not afraid of a few bruises!" Oriha snarled. Benitsubasa tensed up, but she wasn't afraid.

"Go ahead, see how Madoka likes you stabbing his first sekirei." Benitsubasa grinned. "You're not going to do anything. Get back to cooking."

"Y-you..." Oriha's face was turning red with fury. Their altercation was interrupted by footsteps in the hallway coming from the direction of Madoka's room. The moment Benitsubasa saw Oriha's focus shift, she tore the knife out of her grasp.

She put the knife back down on the counter. Oriha wasn't going to wield it against her again, not if Madoka was nearby. Sure enough Madoka walked in a second later.

"Did I hear yelling?" Madoka asked and then yawned.

"Nope," Benitsubasa lied. "Oriha was just making us breakfast."

"Already?" Madoka looked surprised.

"Uh, yeah!" Oriha suddenly perked up and bounced over to Madoka. "Do you want anything special? I'll make whatever you want!" Benitsubasa raised an eyebrow. There was no way Oriha was really that happy just because Madoka walked into the room. She had to be faking it. Right?

Benitsubasa held in a sigh. She envied Oriha a little. She remembered when she used to get excited just because Madoka would talk to her. She wished it was just the two of them again. Things were becoming too complicated and she knew soon it would only get worse. It was just a matter of time before they MBI would decide to meddle with them. Was it too much to ask to just be alone with him before then?

And then what? Say she did have him alone and then MBI interfered, making it impossible to live even the slight pretense of a normal life. Would she alone fight and terminate a hundred or however many other sekirei were still left? Oh of course she was willing, she might even enjoy it... but to say she'd succeed? She hated to admit it, but with Sukaime and Oriha they at least had a small numbers advantage over some of their opponents.

Oh there was the "rule" that all fights were supposed to be one-on-one battles, but even if that was followed it meant that Oriha and Sukaime could take a few of the fights and at the very least wear down some of their opponents. She paused that line of thought. What the hell was she thinking? Was she seriously accepting Sukaime and Oriha's presence? But only as tools, right? Yes, of course. They were just tools to be discarded when they outlived their use.

Now she was angry just from thinking about it too much.

"Stop flirting with Madoka and finish cooking! I'm hungry!" she snapped at Oriha. When angry, just take it out on her bitch. Perfect.

**. . .**

Of course the food ended up being delicious. It almost made Benitsubasa want to keep Oriha around. Almost. Nothing was worth sharing Madoka. Of course she had to deal with her for at least a while longer, but she could definitely do her best to keep some distance between Oriha and Madoka until it was time to clean house.

Unfortunately the "fun" for the day was over. They were already on their way to meet Madoka's "friends." Benitsubasa doubted she would ever be able to see them as such. Oh, if Madoka wanted to make friends that weren't ashikabi, she supposed she could deal with him diverting his attention towards people besides her, but he wasn't, so she couldn't. It seemed she was being forced to "deal" with it regardless of her feelings.

If she tried to get rid of them with violence, Madoka wouldn't support her, and without him there was no way she could win against Namiji, as much as she hated to admit it. She'd never be able to get her heart into it knowing that Madoka totally disapproved of her actions. Masukagami on the other hand... she wasn't sure. Something told her Masukagami wasn't someone to be trifled with underneath all the fluff and the carefree attitude.

"You're late, Madoka-kun," Avaron said the moment they arrived at what was rapidly becoming the "usual spot" by the bench. Indeed, Avaron and Kouji were already there with their sekirei, making Madoka the last ashikabi to arrive.

"Hey, who's that? Don't tell me you got _another_ sekirei!" Kouji looked surprised.

"Ah, yeah. That's what held me up that time I was supposed to be meeting you at your place. I just didn't want to go through the hassle of explaining it at the time," Madoka replied, looking a bit embarrassed.

"Damn, you're on a hot streak!" Kouji grinned. Of course_ everyone else _thought it was neat and dandy that Madoka kept finding new sekirei. Benitsubasa just scoffed and tried to ignore them.

"So, we're all here. What are we planning to do? We didn't really decide on anything," Madoka said.

"Actually, we had an idea. Tell them, Namiji." Kouji looked to his sekirei.

"Oh, um." Namiji looked nervous. "D-don't take this the wrong way, but when we fought it took all three of you to beat me, so I figured maybe we should have a practice session. I just think we could all use a little more experience."

"That's just your way of saying we're weak!" Benitsubasa snapped and then started to grumble under her breath. "Stupid, big br-"

"Hm, I think it's a great idea!" Sukaime interrupted her. "That was my first real fight, and I don't know if Oriha here has ever been in one. I'm sure we all know how to fight and how our abilities work, but nothing beats practical experience."

"Yeah, that's great until Namiji decides it's time for an 'accident' so she can have revenge for us teaming up against her." Benitsubasa glared suspiciously at the girl. She was certain that was her plan. Namiji looked shocked though.

"Wh-what? I'd never do something like that! Our ashikabi are friends and your ashikabi spared me. I wouldn't betray anyone like that!" Namiji insisted. Oh, sure, like Benitsubasa was going to believe that.

"Benitsubasa, quit it!" Madoka scolded her.

"Hmph, fine, but when those end up being the last words you ever say to me, I hope you can sleep at night!" Benitsubasa growled at him and stomped off to stand away from the group. She glanced back over for a second and caught Madoka staring at her. She couldn't quite decipher the expression on his face, but he seemed conflicted about... something. Reading people was Sukaime's specialty, but there was no way she was going to ask her to explain.

**. . .**

Madoka was caught off guard by Benitsubasa's words. Her tantrums were old hat at this point, but it was what she chose to say that got to him. _"-__the last words you ever say to me-". _He shook his head and sighed; it wasn't an issue. He'd be talking to her again before long. There was nothing to worry about, right?

"Err, anyway, now that she's being quiet for the moment. Where would we even do this? A bunch of girls fighting in the middle of the street might draw unwanted attention," Madoka pointed out.

"I already thought of that. I found this warehouse place that's pretty empty. We won't be there long enough for anyone to notice us, so we can set up the spar between two of the warehouses where no one will see us."

"How long have you been planning this?" Madoka asked, suddenly a little suspicious. Suspicious? Maybe curious fit better. Suspicious suggested he might be buying into Benitsubasa's little conspiracy theory.

"Only for a day or two. I'd seen the place before, and when I came up with this idea I decided to check it out. I'm telling you, it's perfect!" Kouji grinned. He was a little too excited in Madoka's opinion. Or maybe he was just proud of himself for putting that plan together. Great, Benitsubasa had wormed her way into his subconscious.

"Well, enough standing around, lead the way so we can see this 'perfect' spot of yours," Madoka urged him. Kouji nodded and waved for them all to follow him. As they began walking, Madoka noticed something that might actually be amiss. The normally bubbly and talkative Masukagami had been anything but; standing silently at Avaron's side. Furthermore, the two hadn't touched each other once. No arm clinging or hugging had occurred. Now _that _was a little suspicious.

**. . .**

I took well over an hour to even come within sight of the warehouses. There was a large chain link fence surrounding the compound topped with razor wire. With their sekirei however, breaching the perimeter was almost a joke it was so easy. Masukagami just used her mirror to get them all to the other side without a fuss, better yet leaving no evidence of a break-in. It took her a few trips, but in under a minute they were all in.

Indeed, the place was deserted. It was obvious the warehouses were older. What few windows there were were grimy, or sometimes replaced with boards or sheet metal. In short, it was perfect for their purposes.

"Well, we're now officially criminals guilty of trespassing. Now what?" Madoka asked. To be honest, it was a bit of a thrill knowing he was technically breaking the rules. Well, no technically about it. He was breaking the rules.

"Oh goody, when we get caught I can make you my prison bitch," Benitsubasa gave a snarky comment.

"You know, you're strong enough you probably could... if men and women went to the same prisons." Madoka rolled his eyes.

"Wait, Benitsubasa's a girl?" Sukaime looked surprised.

"Shut up! Just because my br-" Benitsubasa immediately rounded on her.

"You are so easy." Sukaime grinned.

"You are so _dead_ if you keep it up!"

"They're so _loud_," Oriha commented, inching over to Madoka and moving to grab his hand. He was so used to his limbs not quite belonging to him anymore that he didn't try to stop her. That was until Benitsubasa noticed and her eyes looked ready to bug out of her head. He decided it was best if everyone kept their hands to themselves.

"I think we can do this in between those two warehouses." Kouji pointed to the alleyway that existed between two of the structures. It was wide enough for maybe five people standing shoulder to shoulder. Indeed no one would see them, and there was just enough room for a fight between sekirei.

"Who will fight who?" Avaron asked.

"I thought about that too," Kouji said. "I was thinking a team battle. Namiji and Masukagami could work together against two of Madoka's sekirei."

"Work with the slut again? Hmph, whatever," Benitsubasa grumbled.

"Why can't I fight? I want to show Madoka-sama what I can do!" Oriha complained.

"Mm, no, I don't think so. You should just watch for now. Fighting Namiji alone was pretty intense, and besides, you have no idea how to work with either of us," Sukaime explained to the other sekirei. Madoka was actually a little impressed with how she handled that.

"I agree, Benitsubasa and Sukaime will fight," Madoka confirmed it. Oriha sighed and crossed her arms, silently deferring to his decision. Madoka was still trying to figure out her personality. She seemed obedient, like Sukaime, but in a different way. Sukaime he felt listened to him out of a sense of obligation as his sekirei, while Oriha seemed eager to please. He couldn't really remember a moment where Sukaime really went out of her way to do something for him for the sake of doing something for him.

He remembered when Benitsubasa used to put great effort into getting his attention, and he felt Oriha was similar. He supposed it made sense; Oriha and Benitsubasa had both originally reacted to him, while Sukaime's winging had been a matter of convenience and desperation. He forced back a frown, not wanting anyone to catch a glimpse into his thoughts. Now that his thoughts had shifted to her again, he was starting to worry about Benitsubasa. Indeed she had used to vie for his attention, but now she felt farther away. At first it was like having a wet blanket lifted off of him, but...

"Well, now that that's decided, let's go!" Kouji interrupted his line of thought and began walking over to the alley. Madoka nodded and followed. He was a little nervous now that the fight was starting. Sukaime had said fighting Namiji was intense. Madoka agreed, and he'd only been watching from the side. Now Namiji would have help from Masukagami, whereas before Masukagami had ended up being the saving grace that had kept Namiji from terminating both Sukaime and Benitsubasa in one fell swoop. He'd just have to hope that their teamwork would be a little better this time and they'd know better than to bicker in the middle of a fight.

It may have been too much to hope for.

"Ready?" Kouji asked.

"Masukagami?" Avaron glanced at her sekirei, who nodded.

"Bring it!" Benitsubasa rammed her fist into her palm, clearly pumped for the fight. When _wasn't _she pumped for a fight? Sukaime just nodded and held her remote javelin out to the side.

"Then we begin!" Namiji called out and charged right in.

"She's mine!" Benitsubasa rushed out to meet her.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa knew Namiji could at least match her strength, but that huge weapon that made her so dangerous was also a little clumsy. She could certainly swing it fast, but not in quick succession. If she could dodge the first attack... and there it was. Namiji swung the dull end at her, a blow that would definitely end the fight, but_ maybe_ not terminate her. Benitsubasa crouched low, ducking under it, ready to spring forward and land her own blows. There was no way Namiji was dodging this punch!

And then Masukagami got in her way, holding her palm mirror out. Benitsubasa felt her fist deflect off of the mirror, her knuckles stinging. Namiji jammed the butt of her weapon into her stomach next, and then wound up another big swing. Fortunately, Sukaime's javelin buzzed by at that moment, forcing Namiji back.

Masukagami quickly stepped forth, thrusting her mirror towards Benitsubasa. She still wasn't entirely sure how the mirror worked, but avoiding the reflective surface seemed key. She did her best to twist out of the way, grabbing Masukagami's wrist. She had an opportunity now to do something she'd wanted to do since she met the girl.

She twisted Masukagami's wrist, forcing the mirror to point safely away. With that taken care of, she pulled her other arm back and wound up a nice, big... slap. The sound reverberated off the walls and Masukagami's eyes went wide in shock. She hadn't expected that. Benitsubasa didn't even need to keep her grip on Masukagami's wrist the girl was so stunned. She easily lifted her leg for a push kick and jammed her foot into Masukagami's gut, doubling the sekirei over. She grabbed her hair next and pulled her back up, ready for an uppercut that might finish it. That was until Masukagami placed her mirror on Benitsubasa's stomach. She only placed it there, but it felt like she'd been punched hard and stumbled back, falling to her knee. She looked up just in time to see Masukagami walk over and hold her mirror up to her face. The next things she saw were stars.

**. . .**

Sukaime felt like she was playing with a cat and her javelin was a feather. She had Namiji on the run, keeping her safely away from Benitsubasa so she could deal with Masukagami. Namiji could only dodge and swipe uselessly at the javelin, trying to knock it out of the air. Sukaime called her javelin back to aim another shot, but then Namiji didn't take the usual defensive stance, and instead charged directly at her. Sukaime chuckled and sent her javelin out, straight and true. This would be an easy shot.

Namiji didn't even try to dodge. But Sukaime's eyes widened, because Namiji didn't need to. With only the slightest movement, she held out her halberd, causing the javelin to grind against it and be redirected by little more than an inch, but it was enough for it to fly past harmlessly. Sukaime would never be able to redirect it in time, and Namiji was still charging like a bull.

Sukaime bent her knees, ready to dodge. Indeed Namiji pulled her weapon back to wind up a swing. She'd have to jump at the right moment to avoid it, or she'd be in a world of pain. Namiji slowed, planting her feet for her attack and... kicked Sukaime in the face. She hadn't seen that coming and was knocked off her feet. She held a hand to her aching cheek and tried to get up, but found Namiji's weapon at her throat. She glanced away and saw Benitsubasa writhing on the ground with both hands clutching her face.

"Good work, Namiji!" she heard Kouji shout.

Well, that was embarrassing.

**. . .**

The fight lasted less than five minutes. His sekirei had been demolished, and quite embarrassingly so. It had seemed to be going so well at first, but then the tables had been turned and the fight was over as soon as he realized it. Madoka was having trouble contemplating how things had gone south so quickly. Well, his sekirei hadn't been arguing mid fight, so that was a start. However, to say they were a shining example of teamwork would be a lie. Were Masukagami and Namiji really that much stronger?

"I think it's over," Kouji said, his words making things a little more plain and obvious. Madoka nodded glumly and walked over to Sukaime who was closer. When Namiji stepped back, he held out a hand to his second sekirei. The girl smiled weakly and took it.

"Sorry," she said. "I guess I let you down."

"I-it was just a practice fight, don't worry about it," he told her. He wasn't sure if _he _was embarrassed, or if he was just embarrassed for the girls who'd just lost.

"Hm. Well, I guess now I get the rare opportunity to learn from a loss rather than being terminated from it." Sukaime shook her head. "My face hurts. Oh well, pain is good; means you're alive."

"Fuck you and fuck your stupid mirror!" They were both jolted by Benitsubasa's sudden explosion of hateful yelling.

"I-I just-" Masukagami tried to talk while offering a hand, but Benitsubasa's thrashing wasn't over.

"Get the hell away from me!" Benitsubasa swung at the other girl, striking Masukagami's outstretched arm. The friendlier girl recoiled and quickly shuffled back before making her way back to huddle timidly by Avaron. "Sniveling bitch, you got lucky! LUCKY! If I'd really gone after you you'd be dead right now! Nothing but splattered meat!"

Madoka stared, one eye unconsciously twitching. Benitsubasa was really on a tear. He shook his head and walked over to her. She looked ready to jump at Masukagami and start another fight, but he let his hand fall heavily onto her shoulder and clamped down on it to hold her still. Right, hold _her _still. He knew the moment he touched her that she could not only get away but demolish him if she wished. Instead of doing any of that she just flinched in surprise.

"Done yet?" He looked down at her.

"I... but I... in front of you..." He saw her hands tighten into fists. He imagined beneath her gloves that her knuckles were white. She seemed unable to look at him.

"Why are you mad at her?" he asked her.

"Sh-she... that stupid mirror! She beat me! Of course I'm mad!" she shouted.

"So? It's your fault. You said it yourself." Now she looked at him, eyes wide with shock. Her jaw hung open and her lips quivered. He could see in her eyes her looking for words to respond, but in the end she just bit her bottom lip.

"If you say so..." If she hadn't looked defeated before, she did now. All the fire in her had been extinguished, and it had taken him less than ten words. He wasn't sure if he was happy about that or not. He'd stopped her little rampage, but he wondered if he'd taken it a step too far. Benitsubasa definitely had an ego, and he felt like he'd just crushed it.

"You're tough, you'll do better next time," he assured her and patted her on the back.

"I shouldn't get a next time. I failed. I'm a failure. I keep failing." Now she was just outright depressed. How long had this been hiding under a veil of rage?

"Well you get a next time whether you like it or not. You say you're a failure? Well you're _my_ failure, and I'm telling you to deal with it and try again!" He put his hands on his hips and stared hard at her. He was amused with her response to that. He knew she was totally taken aback. Full on deer in the headlights. When she snapped out of it she looked down at the ground and began fidgeting. Finally she nodded once.

"O-OK."

With the situation contained they made their way out of the warehouse lot. After that scene though, conversation was scarce. She'd effectively killed the mood. He and his sekirei soon broke off from the rest of the group to head home. He assumed they headed off to do the same. With so many witnesses, he supposed he'd been saved from a second awkward goodbye from Avaron. She seemed to have trouble keeping her lips to herself.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa was in a daze. She'd lost – she was a failure, a loser. One who had lost. She was past that. He'd called her _his_. He'd acknowledged that she was his; that he wanted her around and accepted her. She had no idea what anyone else was saying, words just passed through her like water through a sieve. Blah blah, friendship, blah blah, see you next time or some such tripe that didn't matter to her.

She felt hot. Her cheeks were burning and tingling. After a while she noticed Sukaime looking, or smirking rather, at her.

"What?" she asked.

"You," Sukaime said, moving closer to her as they walked.

"What about me?"

"Hehe, you're happy, I can tell. Not 'I got the couch' happy, but actually happy," Sukaime told her, voice kept low. Benitsubasa could at least appreciate Sukaime taking care to avoid prying ears.

"Wh-what makes you say that?" Benitsubasa glared at her. It wasn't like her words were offensive, but she wondered where this was going.

"Well, you're smiling, your face is red, and you're not burning a hole through anyone with your eyes," Sukaime listed off her observations. "Well, you weren't until now anyway."

"I-I was not smiling!" Well, at least she didn't think she had been. Had she? She'd been lost in thought.

"Oh, nothing anyone else would have noticed at a glance, but I saw a little one, tugging at the edge of those adorable cheeks." Cheeks that Sukaime proceeded to pinch, earning a quick slap to knock her hands away. "Pfft, rude..."

"Hands off or next time I won't be so gentle!" Benitsubasa warned her.

"Your definition of gentle needs some revision." Sukaime shook her head. "But that's what makes you so special. You're the pinkest, most cutest brute in the whole wide world!"

"How many times do I have to threaten to kill you before you shut up?" Benitsubasa raised a less than amused eyebrow.

"I love you too."

"Die."

**. . .**

Madoka made his way to his room when he got home and shut the door behind him. He'd told his sekirei he'd be out in a bit for a late lunch. However, within five minutes Oriha walked in on him without even knocking. Fortunately he hadn't been doing anything he didn't want anyone to see.

"No no, come in, it's fine," he muttered sarcastically. So much for a moment alone to relax.

"I need to talk to you," she explained.

"Fine, talk."

"Do you always just stand there like that during a fight?" she asked him. He wasn't sure how to respond.

"Well, what else am I going to do? I can't exactly join in." He frowned.

"You have a mouth, you could have used it. They made some obvious mistakes. You had to have seen. They weren't thinking!" Oriha exclaimed. "I was hoping you were just letting your guard down because it was a practice match."

Madoka looked away. Her accusations were getting to him. It was true though, he was pretty much useless to his sekirei when it came to fights. The only time he'd ever done anything was when he'd picked Benitsubasa up off the ground during her first fight, and chances are he'd only needed to do that because he hadn't been there for her in the first place.

"Someday, I'm going to fight for you too! I'll fight my hardest, but... it'd be nice to know that you'd be there for me. _Really_ there for me; not just watching," Oriha's voice turned into a mumble as she spoke and she began playing with her hair anxiously.

"I'll, uhh, see what I can do I guess. I don't want any of you to get hurt," he told her. He wasn't sure he was giving her anything more than worthless platitudes.

"That's good. I think you're a good ashikabi!" She smiled at him. Well, it was nice that _someone _had faith in him.

"At least someone thinks so, I know I don't," he forced a smile of his own.

"You don't have to be perfect to be good," she pointed out and walked over to him and grabbed his hand. She held it to her chest, immediately jacking up his heart rate. He was sure she meant to hold it to her heart, but there just so happened to be something in the way. Something... soft. "You just have to care!" Thankfully she let go before things got too difficult for him as a man.

"Umm, thank you?" He quickly shoved his hands into the safety of his pockets.

"I'm going to go start cooking now! I'll come get you when it's done!" She gave a small bow and then trotted back out of his room.

That had taken him totally off balance. She was right though; he needed to change something. She said he was a good ashikabi because she thought he cared. He thought he did. He worried about them when they fought and he tried to take care of them. Was that really enough to make him a good ashikabi? He wasn't sure he agreed. He needed to try harder. As much of a burden as they were, he wasn't ready for the guilt that would follow if he lost one of them. He knew he'd blame himself. He knew he wasn't good enough that he could lay the blame anywhere else.

* * *

><p><strong><strong>(Fixed up in batch three of my edits.)<strong>**

****Til' next time!****


	13. I Hate Strays

**I Hate Strays**

Benitsubasa had stolen the couch back after a long time of giving it up to Sukaime. It had been a simple matter of waiting until it had been vacated and then jumping onto it. She'd decided to try watching TV, and before long the sounds of the old, bulky, black picture box had attracted everyone in the house. There was hardly room for everyone on the couch, but Benitsubasa had quickly stolen a spot upon Madoka's lap leaving just enough room for the others. Madoka had just sighed and patted her on the head. She'd have preferred to have him alone, but something told her part of the reason she was allowed to recline onto his lap was because if she didn't, there wouldn't be room for Oriha. Just this once their presence allowed her to get close to Madoka.

They were watching a mildly amusing reality show involving contestants going through physical challenges and often getting hurt when they failed. A few instances even involved blood. It was totally asinine, but Benitsubasa couldn't help but enjoy watching people screw up and bleed for their trouble. She had a sick sense of humor, but one that served her well considering the nature of her life.

"How many episodes of this idiocy are they going to play in a row?" Sukaime shook her head. "Why are we still watching this? I know it's Sunday and we have nothing to do, but seriously?"

"It's so stupid," Oriha groaned loudly and slumped over the arm of the couch. Benitsubasa ignored them. If she were any more content, she'd have started purring. How long had it been since she could just enjoy time with him? The last significant moment she could remember was him bandaging her up after her fight with the spear-wielding Nanami. Not long after that they'd found Sukaime and things had really gone downhill. Suddenly though, it felt like everything was all better. And then the TV suddenly shut off of its own accord.

"Did it finally die?" Sukaime asked, but it didn't take long for them to realize that there was something far more unpleasant behind the TV's sudden silence. It came back on a second later, displaying a face that made Benitsubasa's blood boil. She was on her feet in a flash, ready to throw the TV out the window. It was Minaka. When he began speaking, though, she halted. He wasn't talking to them, not directly anyway.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of Tokyo, my name is Minaka Hiroto of M.B.I and I have a very important announcement to deliver! We have occupied Tokyo and so a new age of gods is dawning here!" the man spoke grandly. And so, as quickly as it had happened, the TV returned to the ridiculous reality show. It shut off again a moment later, but this time because Madoka hit the power button with the TV's remote.

"I'm sorry, but what the hell was that?" Madoka asked, not sounding pleased with what he'd just heard.

"A bastard being a bastard, that's all!" Benitsubasa snorted and crossed her arms. She made her way back to the couch and Madoka's lap. She curled up and shut her eyes, doing her best to try and block everything out. She refused to let _that_ man ruin her day.

**. . .**

Madoka stared down at the girl in his lap. Benitsubasa was being evasive. He didn't know why, as she had adamantly refused to tell him, but she definitely hated MBI and Minaka. He knew it had something to do with her being a "runaway," but he didn't know what that meant. What had she run away from? She was still a part of the "game" or "plan" or whatever it was called, so it wasn't like she'd run away from that. She seemed basically like any other sekirei. Yet there she was, eyes shut tight and body tense after seeing the face of the man behind everything. He wished her knew more.

"Well, this is fantastic," Sukaime said, sarcasm laced into her words.

"You know something?" Madoka asked.

"Kinda, not really." Sukaime shrugged. "I can tell you things are advancing though. Life is going to get more difficult from now on. We've been avoiding trouble a lot. It doesn't feel like it, but we've had it kinda easy I'd say. The only real fight I've had since I got here was Namiji, and she's on our side now. Oriha here hasn't had to fight at all."

"Let me guess; that's going to change now for some reason?" A grimace adorned his face and he felt like he was going to be sick.

"Of course." Sukaime slid off the couch onto her feet, turning to face them all. "You think MBI is occupying the city because they're bored? No, something, somewhere, happened. I mean, by now a lot of sekirei will have been winged. That means lots of pairs or groups able to compete. They're going to provoke us, I just know it. Occupying the city gives them the control to do so!" Sukaime nodded, looking quite sure of herself.

"Like I said. Bastard," Benitsubasa muttered, "my way of saying it was easier."

"True, but don't you think Madoka-kun should know what's going on? Hell, do _you _even know what's going on?"

"Doesn't matter. I'll just keep doing what I've been doing."

"What's that?" Oriha raised an eyebrow. "Getting beaten up?"

"Shut it." Benitsubasa cracked an eye open to glare at her.

"As much as I'd love to see you two wrestle out your issues in a tub of jello, we have bigger problems!" Sukaime interrupted them, pointing a scolding finger at the two, "we can't sit around! Avoiding things isn't an option anymore. I say we go out and cause some trouble of our own!" Madoka didn't like that. He was perfectly content to sit at home. Like Benitsubasa said; keep doing what he'd been doing. But could he? Sukaime said they'd be provoked and now another ashikabi knew where he worked. He had no idea if Minato would bring trouble or not.

"I don't see why that's necessary," Madoka said. Regardless of his worries, he still wanted to put things off as long as possible.

"Why? So you can stumble into trouble when you're not ready? I say _we _get the jump on someone! Hell, maybe you should even wing another sekirei, or keep one from being winged in the first place! I don't know what we should do, but this, what we're doing now, this isn't it!" Sukaime insisted, staring into his eyes, arms crossed. Benitsubasa twisted so she was lying face up in his lap and opened her eyes.

"I like her first idea, and not so much her second," she said, looking up at him.

"Yeah, I can fight and I want to prove it! Come on, Madoka-sama!" Oriha looked at him. All of them were looking at him. The weight of their stares, Sukaime's expectant, Benitsubasa's curious, and Oriha's longing pressed down on him. All their energies were mingling and stabbing into him. What was he going to do? What _should _he do?

"Fine, say we do this, what if we end up over our heads?" Madoka shook his head. He didn't like this at all. It was dangerous. He knew he'd probably be safe, but what about them?

"Aww, are you worrying? Big old mother hen!" Sukaime grinned.

"Maybe I'm getting used to you," Madoka admitted under his breath. They were a nuisance, but that didn't mean he wanted them to get hurt. He especially didn't want to agree to this and have something go wrong.

At that moment Benitsubasa rearranged herself again. Before he knew it she was straddling his lap and had his face in her hands.

"Stop worrying so much, this is what we're here for," she told him, looking into his eyes. He opened his mouth to respond, but his words were muffled – by her lips. The room was bathed in red as her wings burst outward. He'd never get used to the sight of a sekirei's wings. She pulled away and turned to sit sideways in his lap, head resting against his chest. "Now hurry up and decide!" she ordered.

"Hey! Y-you can't just do that in front of me! I want to kiss him too!" Oriha tried to crawl closer, but Benitsubasa's hand shot out and her palm collided with Oriha's face.

"Back off bitch, he's mine!"

"I _will _get jello. I'm serious," Sukaime quipped.

"Enough!" Madoka raised his voice. He was getting a headache and his heart was pounding after Benitsubasa's unexpected kiss. "My lips are off limits to all of you." He glanced down at Benitsubasa. "_All _of you! Now let go of her." He saw Benitsubasa frown as she removed her hand from Oriha's face.

"No fair," Oriha whined pitifully, pouting.

"So, Madoka-kun, what are we doing?" Sukaime asked now that the feisty pair of sekirei had been tamed for the moment.

"Well, it seems it's three for and one against." Madoka shrugged with a sigh.

"You're the ashikabi, it's up to you. Don't forget that."

"I know, I know." Madoka gulped. The pressure and stress were going to be the death of him. "A-alright, fine."

"Hm?" Sukaime raised an eyebrow.

"W-we'll do it. We'll go out and, I don't know, see what we run into I guess." Madoka hung his head, forgetting Benitsubasa was there and winced when their heads collided. "Ow..." Before he could pull his head back up, Benitsubasa's arms snaked around his neck, trapping him.

"I won't disappoint you this time," she said and stared into his eyes. Her face was so close he could easily make out the pink tint on her cheeks and just how red her unnaturally colored eyes were. He could feel her breath rolling over him.

"I'm sure, now please let go," he requested hastily. He was suddenly feeling a little light-headed... and tingly. His day had gone from pleasantly lazy to something he was dreading. Was it too late to turn back? Not really, but he didn't want to be the kind of coward who retracted his decisions.

"Well then, let's get going, shall we?" Sukaime asked and Oriha rose to her feet.

"You heard her, off," Madoka commanded Benitsubasa. Once she got off him, it was his turn to get up. It took him a moment to will his legs into motion. Everything in him was resisting this course of action. And yet in the end it was his choice.

**. . .**

Hours went by and the sun reached and passed the pinnacle of its journey across the sky, which was now dyed orange and pink. They hadn't seen a single sekirei or ashikabi and now they had stopped in a park to rest on a pair of benches. Madoka was relieved. After this he was going to have them head home where it was safe. Every corner they'd turned had been one he'd dreaded for fear of what was around it. It was an adrenaline fueled roller-coaster that he couldn't wait to get off of.

He was just about to say the word when he overheard a conversation behind him. They couldn't see who it was, for their benches sat before bushes, blocking them from seeing what was happening on the path behind them. The more he heard, the more his heart sank.

"This park is empty, why are we here?" a young, male voice spoke.

"We're simply being thorough. This search was your idea," an older, male voice responded.

"I can't believe it! The second stage of this game starts and I lose another sekirei! We'll never find a replacement at this rate!"

"I tried to stop her. She wouldn't listen," a subdued, female voice spoke next.

"Idiot," the young voice said, "no, not you Akitsu. Stop looking depressed!"

"I think she always looks like that." The older voice again.

"True, but it gets annoying."

Madoka's face fell into his hands. So close. He'd been so close to getting home without incident. Whoever this kid was, and he definitely sounded like a kid, he didn't like him. He sounded like a total brat. How could he talk about replacing a sekirei as if he was changing a light bulb and it was simply an inconvenience?

"Finally! Let's kick their asses!" Benitsubasa moved to get up, but Madoka grabbed the back of her top and yanked her back down. "Hey!"

"Don't just run out there!" Madoka whispered harshly.

"Why not? If I get the drop on them I can take them out easy!"

"She kinda has a point. What's the problem, this is why we're here, isn't it?" Sukaime commented.

"Sorry, take out who easily?" Madoka groaned and hung his head, looking up to see a young teen with medium length brown hair and expensive, white clothing. He was the owner of the younger voice. Besides him was a man with what looked like a sword and a woman with a very strange and revealing outfit. The outfit was white and resembled a kimono, with a black wrapping around her waist holding it shut. That said, her breasts were almost fully exposed, which was where the strange part came in. She had a chain that was wrapped around her neck, that then ran in between her breasts forming a sort of Y-shape. A second chain ran across this, each end of this chain connected to her outfit – the only thing keeping her outfit from falling open and being totally indecent. The man's outfit was unusual as well, being black with a long scarf or cape and a similarly open front, showing almost everything between his chest and his waist, with two black straps crisscrossing over his midsection.

After this, he didn't think the way sekirei dressed would ever surprise him again. What _was_ surprising was that he was pretty sure the man was a sekirei. He'd been starting to think they were all female. Speaking of female sekirei, the woman, who he assumed was Akitsu, had her sekirei crest on her forehead. He'd have noticed sooner if not for her distracting outfit. Unfortunately, he was pretty sure Benitsubasa had noticed where his attention had been.

"You heard me! I'm kicking that slut's ass! What the hell is with that outfit? Do you sell your body on the street so your ashikabi can afford those stupid clothes?" Benitsubasa ranted.

"Hey, don't just go around calling people sluts! I thought I was special!" Sukaime complained with a feigned pout.

"I see, so we'll be having a fight. Shall I fight the other two, Mikogami?" The man glanced at the boy, Mikogami.

"Mutsu, that's against the rules of the game!" Mikogami complained. Oh, so now the little twit called it a game? Madoka hated him already. His parents must not have beat him enough as a child. Hell, he still looked to be a child; maybe it wasn't too late. Madoka could use the stress relief.

"Yes, but I feel it would be cruel and unfair to fight them one-on-one. If I'm going to fight, I want some semblance of a challenge. A game is only good if it is fun, isn't it?" Mutsu argued, though his tone sounded totally indifferent.

"But, the rules... oh fine, do what you want just this once. But make it quick, we need to find another sekirei before they all get taken!"

"Don't you dare look at me like I'm weak! I can take you!" Oriha glared at Mutsu.

"Fine then, shall we hurry and fight? I am Mutsu, number five," Mutsu introduced himself.

"O-Oriha, n-number... one-hundred and one..." Oriha suddenly lost her courage, her already light skin paling. "A s-single number?"

"So, still want to fight him alone?" Sukaime asked. Madoka could see the tension in her face, even if she tried to mask it behind her usual obnoxious comments. What exactly was the significance of a sekirei with a single digit designation?

**. . .**

Benitsubasa was staring down Akitsu. She heard Mutsu speak though. Five? A single number? Well she'd just have to hope Oriha and Sukaime could distract him and wear him down a bit while she dealt with this other sekirei. What the hell was with her crest though?

"Well, what's your number then?" Benitsubasa asked impatiently.

"I am Akitsu, a scrapped number. You see my crest, of course," Akitsu explained in a subdued voice. Her voice made her sound like she'd woken up from a nap not long ago.

"Scrapped? If you're scrapped, why the hell are you here?" Benitsubasa had no idea what it meant to be scrapped, but she was sure it wasn't a good thing. Surely if she was "scrapped" she shouldn't be participating.

"Because Mikogami-sama wanted me, even knowing he couldn't wing me," Akitsu told her, her tone of voice still unchanged. Even so, her words shook Benitsubasa a little. She wasn't winged? She was wanted? Well so what? Madoka had said he wanted her right? Well, maybe not in those words, but he'd said she was his. Yes, of course, that was enough for now, wasn't it? Of course, Akitsu was Mikogami's, but it was purely because Mikogami wanted her, even knowing of her flaw. While of course she was Madoka's, she'd pretty much forced him to wing her, whether he liked it or not. She shook her head. What was her problem? She was his and he'd accepted it, even saying it out loud! Shouldn't she be satisfied with that?

"Yeah, well my ashikabi wants me too and I _was_ winged, so don't get cocky!"

"Good for you," Akitsu mumbled. Her passiveness was infuriating. Was she not taking her seriously? Well, she'd fix that right quickly! She was too angry to come up with a proper response, so instead she just rushed right in. To be honest, it was a strategy that had worked fairly well in the past, she just had trouble following through... So she was totally unprepared when Akitsu shut her down completely. With a wave of her hand, ice formed on the ground, rising up quickly to form a cold, and more importantly spiky, barrier. Benitsubasa skidded to a halt before she ran right into the ice and got herself frozen and impaled.

She had to retreat, jumping back as Akitsu sent a dozen shards of ice down at her with little more than a flick of her wrist. With her hand aimed, Akitsu kept Benitsubasa on the run, chasing her yet farther away with another barrage. The ground between them had become a spike-strip made of icicles.

"You're a fist type aren't you? How unfortunate," Akitsu said calmly. She looked outright bored. Benitsubasa wanted to wipe that... well she wasn't smirking or anything. This was beyond frustrating, beyond infuriating... it was... it was... she didn't know any words that described what this was.

"Worthless bitch. Keep it up! I'm kicking your ass!" Benitsubasa shouted at her opponent.

**. . .**

Madoka could see Benitsubasa's mood slowly growing more and more tempestuous as she was forced purely onto the defensive. He remembered what Oriha had told him. Should he... say something? Should he try to motivate her or give her some sort of advice? He didn't know a thing about fighting though, what could he possibly do? Well he knew that Benitsubasa wasn't going to get far just by yelling angrily. If she got too angry she might make a stupid mistake.

"Don't let her get to you! Just keep cool!" he told her. A moment later though, he realized-

"Seriously?" Benitsubasa looked at him incredulously.

"S-sorry..." he muttered sheepishly. Really? Keep _cool_? This was why he kept his mouth shut during these situations.

**. . .**

Oriha swallowed. Her throat was dry. She wasn't ready for this, this was only her first fight. She couldn't fight a single number! It didn't matter that she had Sukaime on her side, she was doomed! She was honestly surprised she wasn't already terminated. Mutsu seemed content to wait until they were ready though. A small blessing.

"So, you were all fired up before. I don't suppose you have a plan?" Sukaime looked at her expectantly.

"Of course I don't! There is no plan to be had!" Oriha snapped. She may have been panicking slightly. Slightly, like how a magnitude eight earthquake was _slightly_ less horrible than a magnitude nine on the Richter scale. She really wished they'd just listened to Madoka and stayed home watching stupid shows on television.

"In that case, shall I begin?" Mutsu interrupted her little mental breakdown.

"Oh no, please, take your time." Sukaime laughed nervously. However, Mutsu held out his sword, though for some reason it was still sheathed.

"I'm afraid I have no more time to waste," he said, and rushed at them. However, Oriha produced a half dozen spinning, circular blades out of nowhere and directed two at him.

"Moon Chakram!" Oriha shouted as she sent the blades at him. While he did halt, he bounced the weapons off of his own with ease. She grimaced. There was no way she was going to land even a single hit on him. He was older, more powerful, and more experienced. She grit her teeth and tried again, with all six of her blades at once. He deflected three without even moving from his position, and only then did he jump high into the air, avoiding two more before landing and swatting away the last one still close enough to be a threat.

At that moment, Sukaime sent her javelin at him, but even after just dodging, Mutsu still had his balance. He held his weapon vertically, holding one hand near the end of it to hold it steady. The javelin was like water in a stream hitting a rock. It slid past and around, leaving Mutsu unharmed."Is it my turn now?" he asked. Before they could answer he jumped forward and landed a few feet in front of them. "Kasaiten!" He slammed the point of his sheathed sword into the ground, immediately forming a crater and throwing Oriha from her feet. The air rushed out of her lungs as she landed. She did her best to sit up right away, though immediately launched into a short coughing fit. She glanced over and saw Sukaime in a similar position. This was going poorly. Mutsu was the unstoppable force to their not so immovable object.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa figured she'd just have to get over Madoka's poorly thought out words of advice. However, it _had_ taken her mind off the fight momentarily. She was more focused as she stared down Akitsu. Maybe if she was fast enough, she could rush in before she launched a volley, and then just jump over any barriers and strike her from behind. She was a fist type, so she didn't have many other options. She _had_ to get in close. With Akitsu fighting at range she had no reason to get in closer herself. Benitsubasa was going to have to rush in and hope for the best.

She bent her knees and launched forward. She made it a few, bounding steps forward before Akitsu launched a barrage of icy spikes. They were concentrated right at her, so with a big side-step she avoided them and then jumped forward. Another barrage followed the last immediately. This time it was a wide, sweeping spread. There were about the same number of spikes though. Perhaps she could only make so many at a time on short notice? Benitsubasa ducked low and then twisted around another. She could do this, she was fast enough to dodge!

Then she felt a burning pain in her thigh and she collapsed, her leg not supporting her. She clutched her leg and looked down. Somehow she'd missed one. There was a scarily big spike sticking out of her thigh. It was at least five inches long, though it was hard to say since half of it was buried in _her_! She clenched her jaw and tried not to cry out at the pain. She looked up and saw Akitsu pointing at her with a single finger. Had she hidden an extra spike behind the second volley to trick her?

"This is it," Akitsu said, looking disinterested with the whole affair. She held a hand up and snow began to swirl around her. This was it? No, there was no way this was it! She'd promised Madoka she'd do better next time, and this was her next time! How could she just immediately let him down? What was he thinking right now? Was she a failure to him? Could he bear to look at her? She didn't want to look back and find out.

"_You're tough, you'll do better next time..." "You're my failure..."_

That's what he'd told her. She didn't want to be his failure, she just wanted to be his.

"_You're tough..." "... my..."_

"NO!" She closed her fingers around the spike in her thigh and ripped it out, and threw it right back at Akitsu. She saw the other sekirei's eyes widen as she ducked under it. Benitsubasa got her good leg under herself and pushed off with all her strength, launching into the air. When Akitsu looked back up, she'd have seen Benitsubasa's leg as it flew into her face, knocking her off her feet and to the ground.

Benitsubasa landed, falling to the knee of her injured leg. She saw Akitsu clutching her face, but already getting up. She wasn't letting her get off that easily. She had this notion in her head of what she was going to do to her next. A pressure, pounding inside her, telling her something. Telling her to tear her opponent apart. She got to her feet, ignoring her protesting thigh. She ran at Akitsu, head on.

Akitsu didn't have time to defend herself. She tried to get out of the way, but she only made it halfway.

"SHREDDER!" Benitsubasa slammed her palms into Akitsu's side. The air distorted and Akitsu's clothing tore under the force. It spun her, throwing her to the ground where she continued to roll for a few feet until she finally stopped. Benitsubasa stood there, panting. Where had that come from? She hadn't known how to do that before, but then it had suddenly come so naturally.

She was brought out of her confused thoughts by a groan. Akitsu was getting up again. There was a big hole in her clothing now, on her side, but she wasn't terminated. She was definitely in pain though. Benitsubasa supposed that made them even. Even wasn't good enough for her.

That said, she suddenly realized she might not have a say in the matter. Akitsu was glaring at her, her calm, unconcerned aura gone and replaced with violent intensity. A series of very large ice spikes formed, floating in an array around her, poised to impale Benitsubasa until she was terminated and then some. She wasn't sure how she was going to get out of this.

She didn't get any further time to consider her situation as the spikes launched. They were big and easy to see at least, so she twisted around the first one to come near. Her injured leg protested as she jumped away from another, and she stumbled upon landing. The third was already upon her, tearing into her shoulder as she was too slow to dodge it completely. She threw herself to the ground, another raking across her back as she did. She barely rolled out of the way of the next. All the others hadn't been aimed in her direction, so she was safe until the next volley.

Akitsu already had her hands held out to aim...

**. . .**

Madoka was frozen in place. There was no way out of this. His sekirei were totally outclassed. No amount of stupid advice from his bumbling mouth was going to help. Even proper advice would be too late now. He watched as Mutsu seemed to toy with Oriha and Sukaime. He dodged and deflected their weapons with ease. Then he seemed to get impatient again and jumped forward. He swung out and tripped Oriha and then simply kicked Sukaime.

Mutsu then seemed to forget about them and glanced over at Benitsubasa's fight. She was worrying Madoka even more. She was on her feet again, but she was bleeding from multiple gashes. For some reason, Mutsu now had his attention on her.

Benitsubasa launched herself, diving away from a volley. She didn't so much land as much as she crashed. It was painful to watch. She'd landed so hard, having to toss herself about to avoid even worse, and then he watched her struggle to her feet again.

"H-hey!" he called out. It was too late. Mutsu had walked all the way over, unnoticed, behind her. He swung out almost casually with his sheathed weapon, catching Benitsubasa in the ribs and tossing her back. What now? What should he do now? He was totally lost. He had nothing...

**. . .**

Benitsubasa was in a crumpled heap. She almost welcomed the pain as a distraction from her self-loathing. How could she be so weak? For Madoka, she should be able to beat some worthless, scrapped number! But now the single number had joined in. It wasn't fair.

She saw Mutsu standing over her. Was it really the end this time? But no, he knelt down next to her.

"Benitsubasa, correct?" he asked.

"Y-yeah... what do you want?" she groaned. Why was he talking to her?

"Hm, the runaway. Pretty disrespectful to MBI."

"Screw MBI," Benitsubasa scoffed, and then coughed up blood. He'd hit her _really _hard. She wasn't sure how much more she could take, honestly. "W-wait, ho-"

"Word gets around, it happened a while ago. I almost forgot about it to be honest."

"So?"

"So I was curious. I wanted to get a good look at you. Not sure what to think. I think I expected a little more," he said and shrugged.

"Oh... g-go to hell." She groaned and tried to roll over enough to turn away from him.

"As you wish." He stood up.

**. . .**

Madoka didn't understand. Were they... talking? So long as he wasn't terminating her, he supposed he didn't mind. But how long would this last? He felt a tug on his arm. Oriha had made her way to him.

"M-Madoka-sama, umm..." For some reason she was blushing. "I have an idea."

"Wh-what?" He shook his head. "Then hurry up and tell me!"

"N-norito."

"What?"

"Just kiss her! Fast!" Sukaime suddenly shouted. Kiss Oriha? What would that accomplish? However, Oriha was already leaning toward him, head tilted back to face up at him. He had no idea what to expect, but he got the impression that kissing sekirei was significant somehow. What did he have to lose at this point? He grabbed her shoulders and leaned down to kiss her for the second time now. The long, lavender shards of her wings spread out and then she pulled away. She held her arms out wide and turned to face Mutsu and Akitsu.

"These flying gears represent my pledge! Cut away the enemies before my ashikabi!" she chanted. "_Zangetsu no Mai_!" Her chakram flew out, dozens of them now. They formed together, creating two, massive, bladed wheels. They surged forth, one flying at each of the enemy sekirei.

He saw Mutsu's sword arm twitch, but then even he didn't seem keen on trying to block _that_ attack. Instead, he waited and then made a massive leap, avoiding it and landing back by Mikogami. Akitsu created a thick wall off ice, but the second wheel ground through it quickly, though it lasted just long enough for Akitsu to run. The two huge wheels flew through the air and came back to Oriha, spinning in the air above her. He hoped they weren't about to go away. Her suddenly massive weapons were their only hope at the moment.

"Mikogami, it may be best that we leave. He has another sekirei whose norito he could easily use. Besides, we're wasting time. The last few sekirei won't remain without wings for long. We should expedite our search," Mutsu suddenly spoke. Wait, he was calling off the fight? Was this some sort of miracle?

"What? Run away?" Mikogami complained. Madoka wanted to hit him. Why wouldn't he just leave?

"A tactical retreat so that we may get back to our original goal. Fights are easy to come by after all. New sekirei are not," Mutsu insisted.

"F-fine! Your decision making is giving me a headache today, Mutsu!" Mikogami grumbled. "Akitsu, you lead the way this time! Pick a direction to look in!" he ordered. The icy sekirei glanced back at Benitsubasa, but then silently pointed in a seemingly random direction. The direction was thankfully away from Madoka and his sekirei. He wanted to collapse and sleep forever – and never deal with this kind of stress again.

"Hey, are you two OK?" He looked at Oriha and then Sukaime. Sukaime nodded.

"I'm fine, Madoka-sama," Oriha told him. Her massive, bladed wheels had disappeared now. Now that they were safe, he was fine with this. Their injuries alone would have been hard enough to explain to a passerby. His eyes widened. Injuries? If anyone was going to be injured right now...

"Benitsubasa!" He turned away from the other two and quickly ran over to his first sekirei. He found her forcing herself into a sitting position when he reached her.

"I-I..." she began to speak, but he put a hand on top of her head.

"Don't even start." He stared her down until her lips shut. "Good, now promise me you're going to be okay."

"Yeah, these won't last long," she mumbled tiredly and looked down at her injuries. She looked back up at him, biting her lip. "I-I tried really hard..."

"I know."

"I think I got stronger, I-I-"

"I saw. You got some good hits in. Come on, let's go home." He forced a weak smile. He knew she felt bad enough without him showing how he really felt. He knew she was worried he was disappointed. He wasn't, but he _was_ worried. He knew she'd take any doubt on his face the wrong way. He stood up and held his hand out to her. She took it, standing shakily.

"You gonna make it?" Sukaime asked, joining them.

"I'm f-" Benitsubasa began to protest to that line of questioning, but Sukaime shook her head.

"You really gonna say you're fine? You're so full of holes you might as well be religious."

"I... what?"

"That's horrible." Madoka groaned. He heard Oriha giggle though.

"What?" Benitsubasa looked at all of them. Even Madoka felt his lips twitch now. Horrible, but clever. "WHAT?" she demanded.

"Religious," Madoka said. "Holy?"

"Oh... that... that is the just the _stupidest_... I hate you!" Benitsubasa glared at Sukaime.

"Well, I think she'll be just fine!" Sukaime chirped. "If she can spare all that energy for hating, I'm sure she'll live."

"Yeah, yeah, you're a regular heart monitor. Thank you for your diagnosis." Madoka shook his head. These girls; they'd just been through hell but they were already bantering like it was any other afternoon. Somehow it made him feel better though, that things could really get back to normal so quickly.

"Umm, excuse me?" But there was always a wrench ready and waiting to throw itself into the works. He knew this, but he could never prepare himself. He glanced over at the source of the voice. How was he supposed to explain what had just happened? When he saw who it was though, two things happened. One, his jaw dropped and two, he knew explanations were probably not necessary.

He was staring at a rather voluptuous girl in a tight-fitting outfit. That said, he couldn't call it indecent. She had short, platinum blonde hair, with two tufts sticking out that seemed to defy gravity and a few longer strands that framed her face. Her eyes were a light brown, almost golden in color.

Her outfit was a top that was a burgundy color, but with a black stripe going across the top of her chest, leading to white straps that went up and over her shoulders and around her neck. Only a small portion of her chest just below her neck was left exposed. Also around her neck was a... well it was a collar. She was wearing a damn collar. The collar was wide and thick, the same burgundy as her shirt with big, circular studs in it. A ring was looped through the front stud. She wore black gloves that went all the way up to her biceps, topped with white arm bands. She had wrist bands that matched her collar. Lastly she wore black pants, though her left leg was white from her hip to her knee. In short, she dressed very eccentrically and was no doubt a sekirei since she was perfectly calm despite-

He groaned. Benitsubasa was bleeding on him. It wasn't too bad, but blood definitely getting on him. He felt a bit queasy.

"Uh, c-can I help you?" Madoka asked. In that situation, what else could he say?

"I saw the fight. Are you OK?" the girl asked.

"We'll live," Madoka assured her, sighing. Was she trying to be polite or something? He supposed it was at least a little refreshing. "I assume you're a sekirei since you haven't called the police."

"Yes," she answered succinctly. "I was hiding in a tree. I overheard the other ashikabi talking. I didn't like it and I was afraid he'd wing me. Your presence might actually have kept me from being noticed."

"How convenient for you." Sukaime crossed her arms.

"I didn't... well, I suppose."

"Maybe we should get rid of her, less competition!" Oriha suggested. "And I'm still angry from that fight!"

"I-I..." The unwinged sekirei took a nervous step back.

"Go for it, I'll watch." Benitsubasa shrugged.

"Whatever." Sukaime crossed her arms and looked away. Madoka thought she actually looked uncomfortable.

"No, we're not doing that," Madoka scowled at Oriha disapprovingly. "How would you feel if I'd just left you on the street when you needed my help?" Oriha's eyes widened and she hung her head.

"Fine, then can we go home? My leg is killing me!" Benitsubasa complained.

"Sukaime, help her walk, get her back to the house," Madoka ordered. "I'm going to figure things out here."

"Does 'figure out' translate to 'wing?'" Sukaime asked suspiciously.

"No. I can barely feed the three of you as it is." Madoka shook her head. This girl was bigger than his sekirei; he didn't want to know how much she ate. Sekirei were like bottomless pits. "Go." Sukaime nodded and Benitsubasa let her help her, though with clear reluctance. "You too." He turned his attention to Oriha. With all three of his sekirei heading off, he was left alone with... well... "So, who are you?"

"Number sixty-two, Kaie." She gave a curt bow. "Thank you."

"They're a bunch of spitfires, but they usually listen. Don't worry about it," he told her and shrugged, "so, did you have some reason to talk to me besides risking the wrath of my sekirei?"

"I don't know. I was scared, but then you distracted those three and your sekirei got hurt. I know you didn't do it for me, but... I thought I should do something." She looked nervous now. She spoke well, very composed, but he could tell something was bothering her. Her cheeks had a slight tint to them. Wait. Oh. Oh damn, not again. "I guess I felt safe because you looked nice. You were worried about your sekirei. I had a feeling you wouldn't hurt me."

"You know, I've been called a lot of things, but nice? That's new." He chuckled nervously. "Well, I guess I'm glad I didn't disappoint you." He was playing "nice," but he was frantically looking for a way out of this. What was he supposed to do, tell her to go away? She was being very pleasant and he had a sinking feeling telling him she was reacting to him. He'd feel like a cruel bastard if he just left here there to live on the streets and get picked up by some jerk like Higa or Mikogami who she wasn't even reacting to.

"Yes," she replied. The following silence was growing more and more uncomfortable. She was attractive, he couldn't ignore that. He wouldn't mind looking at her everyday, but he already had _three _sekirei. No, no he couldn't do it. But the other option didn't sit well with him. When had he gotten so damn, well, nice?

"What are you going to do now?" he asked her. Maybe _she_ could give him another option.

"I don't know. I've been on the streets for a while. I haven't found my ashikabi yet. I look everyday, but..." She glanced at him, furtively, many times while she spoke, but he noticed. He saw the sad look in her eyes. Telling her to go away would be like kicking a puppy or drowning a kitten. But she was a kitten he couldn't feed and he was never home because he was always working.

The solution hit him suddenly. He saw the confusion on Kaie's face when his own eyes went wide.

"I have an idea that's going to involve my sekirei skinning me alive, and it's not a guarantee, but, maybe you could stay at my place until you find your ashikabi," he told her.

"You mean, you wouldn't wing me?" He could read the disappointment on her face.

"Sorry, I told my sekirei I wouldn't. There'd be a condition though. This is where there might be a problem," he explained. A bigger problem than even Benitsubasa going nuclear? He wondered.

"A condition?"

"I have a job, but it doesn't pay well enough for me to feed myself and four others. My boss just fired one of the other employees, but I know he can afford to pay someone else. I'm betting I could get you a job there and then in return for a place to sleep and food you give me your paychecks. Deal?" It was genius, really. Assuming Benitsubasa didn't murder him once she recovered from her wounds, he'd get more money while having less work to do at his job.

"Yes, thank you!" She smiled. Madoka returned it halfheartedly. That settled it, he was going to have to convince his sekirei to go along with this. Well, like he'd told Kaie, they listened to him... usually.

**. . .**

"NO!"

"No way!"

"Definitely no!" Everyone stared at Sukaime for a moment. "What, I can't get angry at things?"

Well, that had been how Benitsubasa, Oriha, and Sukaime felt about it.

"It's not like I winged her!" Madoka insisted.

"Yet." Benitsubasa scowled at him.

"It's not happening!"

"Why not?" Sukaime asked. "Your biggest issue was not having enough money, but she's apparently going to solve that problem. So what's stopping you?"

"Well for one, there's not enough room. Two, I don't need another sekirei to turn me into a huge target for other groups! It's temporary."

"I'm sorry, if I'm going to cause to much trouble I'll go," Kaie said and took a step back towards the door.

"No. They're just going to have to deal with it, I've made my decision." Madoka crossed his arms and gave his three sekirei a stern look. Oriha broke first.

"If that's what you want to do," she mumbled and got to her feet. "I guess I'll go make dinner for five," she said resignedly. And with that she left the room.

"Hm, I guess she's at least better eye candy than our resident washboard." Sukaime shrugged.

"I _know _you didn't mean me..." Benitsubasa growled.

"I did."

"Bitch."

"Well? That leaves you," Madoka told Benitsubasa.

"Oh my g- Fine! Just as long as long as you don't wing her! If you do, she dies. Period!" Benitsubasa made her feelings on the matter quite clear. She'd have been a lot more intimidating if she wasn't lying on the couch, flat on her back, wrapped in bandages nearly head to toe. Her thigh, midsection, arms, and even her face had all required some level of bandaging.

"Thank yo-"

"PERIOD!"

"I heard you the first time. And for the last time since I think I'm deaf now." Madoka sighed and rubbed his ringing ears. She was so small, but so incredibly loud when she wanted to be.

"I don't think they heard you in Osaka. Want to try again?" Sukaime blinked a few times.

"Stop mocking me!" Benitsubasa scowled.

"What?" Madoka said.

"I said stop mocking me!"

"What?"

"I sai-. . ." Benitsubasa figured out what he was doing when he started smirking. "Jerk."

**. . .**

"Thanks for going along with it," Madoka told her. Benitsubasa was being given Madoka's bed again. She didn't like being pitied, but she wasn't going to complain. His bed was far more comfortable after her back being injured.

"Like you said, it's temporary!" She squinted at him as she pulled the sheets up to her chin. "Right?"

"Right, right. Knowing my luck, she'll find her ashikabi before she even gets her first paycheck." Madoka rolled his eyes.

"Just keep her away from my cereal," Benitsubasa told him.

"Of course. God forbid you don't get your sugar fix every morning." Madoka laughed and sat on the edge of the bed.

"It's fruity and delicious!" How dare he make light of her cereal!

"It's also an expensive brand name." Madoka frowned. "You're kinda spoiled you know. You get to sleep in my bed and eat gourmet food."

"Wow, I feel so special," Benitsubasa said robotically.

"A princess, really." She flushed at that. Princess? Of course he was teasing her, but she kind of liked being called that by him.

"I-I really will do better next time. I mean it this time!" she said. It was a sudden change of subject, but she couldn't help it.

"So you didn't mean it last time?" Madoka raised an eyebrow. She pouted. Was he not taking her seriously?

"I meant it then too! I told you, I feel stronger now! I did do better! I-I just couldn't win yet." She hated how whiny her voice was, but she was upset.

"You know I don't care about this kind of stuff. Why are you so bothered by it?" he asked her.

"My entire reason for being here is to fight and win! Losing isn't supposed to be an option! It's humiliating! I should have been terminated! At least then I wouldn't have to live as a failure! I-I don't want to be your failure." She bit her lip.

"You don't? Well, that'll save me on food expenses." Madoka tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"You know what I mean!"

"I know, I know," he assured her. "Then how about something else. You're my, hm... tough girl? If you're so sure that you should've been terminated, then you must be really stubborn to still be here." She felt herself blush at his words.

"Th-that's better. Umm, I'm tired," she told him. It was so embarrassing, she couldn't stand to have him look at her right now. She was such a mess.

"Right, I'll leave you be," he said and stood up. She caught his hand though.

"W-will you tuck me in first?" she asked. She supposed he could stick around for a few more seconds.

"Sure."

* * *

><p><strong>Dawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.<strong>

**Anyway, I did my best to describe Kaie. Of course the colors were a total guess. The manga is in black and white after all. If you want to look for yourself, she first appears in chapter 127 page 8 in the manga. There aren't _too_ many spoilers on that page if you haven't gotten that far, but are reading the manga. She's on page 9 too, and that page is relatively spoiler free, but the frame she's in is a little smaller. Those pages are also safe and ecchi (nudity) free if you're not into the manga, but just happen to like my fic for the story.**

**(Fixed up in batch three of my edits.)**

**Til' next time!**


	14. I Hate Rice

**I Hate Rice**

Madoka stood before his place of employment. Beside him was Kaie whom he had been forced to buy a new outfit for. Her old outfit hadn't been entirely inappropriate, but there was no way his boss was going to hire a strange girl wearing a collar. They'd gone with a simple red sundress with wide shoulder straps that went down past her knees. Her "ample proportions" actually resulted in more skin showing, but at least the outfit wasn't so eccentric.

He frowned, at this rate Kaie was becoming more trouble than she was worth. If this job idea didn't pan out he was going to be pissed. It didn't help that Benitsubasa had decided to make things difficult...

**. . .**

"_So, I think my boss would have a fit if I had Kaie show up dressed the way she is now. You know that dress I bo-"_

"_No!" Benitsubasa had refused Madoka's request before he could even finish it. "There's no way it'd fit her anyway. Just look at her huge br-"_

"_We don't know that. She hasn't even tried it on!"_

_"And she's not going to! It's mine! I picked it out for _me_!___"__

"_Fine, be that way..."_

**. . .**

He sighed at the memory; a real spitfire indeed. Kaie's new dress really wasn't that great, being very plain, but at least had been on sale. Somehow though, she made it look good which left him wondering what she'd look like in a nicer outfit.

"You're sure I have to wear this? It 's so... loose," Kaie tugged at the neckline of her dress. Madoka felt himself blush.

"Y-yeah, I'm sure!" he insisted quickly. He looked away before he went on. "Well, not that specifically, but your usual outfit is a definite no." He wondered what it was with sekirei and strange outfits. And was Oriha the only sekirei who didn't have something against dresses? Well, Kaie had picked it out, but since it was one of the few things that fit her that also fell within his price range, she hadn't really had much choice in the matter. "You can put your normal clothes back on later." Right, "normal."

"You know more than I do about this." Kaie nodded. At least so far she'd remained easy to work with.

"Right then, let's go," Madoka said tensely. The man who owned the store on the other hand could be difficult to deal with. The store used to have another employee, but after firing him, the owner hadn't exactly rushed to find a replacement, content to have Madoka do all the work. Would he be open to hiring Kaie?

The store didn't open for another half hour, so he had to use his key to get in. It was probably the first time in months he'd been there that early. He sometimes wondered why he hadn't been fired yet. He wasn't required to be there before the store opened, but he was still late a lot, though less so now since he'd cut back on visiting his family.

"Keisui-san, you're early."

"Oh, good morning Asahi-san," Madoka greeted. Kin Asahi ran the check-out counter. It was why the owner was free to scold Madoka even when customers were about.

"Hm, you know, I've noticed you've been meeting girls after work, but this isn't one of them," Kin mentioned, a mischievous smirk on her face, "bringing her into the store too. You're getting bolder," she teased him.

"About that." Madoka sighed. Kin was incredibly outgoing and social. After working there for only a week she was talking him up like he was her closest friend. It was like she felt this meant she could pry about things, no matter how personal it might be. However, she was too kind for him to get angry. He knew he'd end up feeling guilty if he called her on it. "She's actually looking for a job."

"Oh, really? Can't handle it all on your own?"

"No, not at all, it's just..." Madoka was stuck. How was he supposed to explain this? "Well, she's my cousin, and she needs the money." He wasn't the type to read manga or watch anime, but even he knew that was the most cliché lie ever. It worked though; Kaie's hair color matched his well enough, so they could actually pass as relatives to the casual observer. Claiming to be cousins would also explain away the fact that they didn't look _that_ similar. He just had to hope that Kin would buy it.

"Really? Cousins? I didn't know you had a cousin," Kin said.

"My part of the family moved away for a while, but I moved back recently because I missed the city," Kaie told her, "when I mentioned I needed a job, Madoka offered to help me." Madoka had to stifle his surprise. Kaie's poker face was rock solid.

"Huh, well isn't that nice of you, Keisui-san," Kin commented. "The old man's in the back somewhere. We'll be opening soon, so hurry up." Madoka nodded in response and motioned for Kaie to follow him. Now for the hard part. He'd just have to hope the owner's impatient side would kick in and cause him to not ask too many questions.

They found him typing into a computer that looked almost as old as he was. The man didn't care though, so long as it could still, barely, connect to the internet. It was what he knew how to use. Madoka was hardly one to talk though, considering the age of his television, though that was more from a lack of funds than anything else.

"Excuse me, Chino-san," Madoka spoke to get his attention. The man looked up.

"I can overlook some things, Keisui-san, bu-" the owner began, but Madoka decided to clear things up immediately.

"This is my cousin, I was hoping she could work here," Madoka explained.

"Oh," the man grumbled, and then muttered a few words under his breath. He scratched his rapidly balding head. "I assume you will vouch for her?"

"Of course." Madoka nodded.

"Hmph, she's your responsibility. Two days, two days to prove herself. Any damages come out of _your _pay."

"Damages?" Kaie asked.

"If you break or drop anything. You'll be stocking a lot of shelves," Madoka explained. He was keeping a straight face for the sake of looking professional in front of his boss, but inside he was extremely relieved. That had been almost too easy, but he wasn't going to complain. He almost hoped Kaie stayed around for a while. Her presence in his house would make things a little crowded, but, barring any horrible screw ups, her presence at his job would make his life a lot easier. Hell, he spent most of his time at work anyway. Kaie seemed quiet, calm, and kind, so he didn't foresee her causing any trouble.

And... was the owner seriously staring at her chest? Madoka took a step to the side so his shoulder obscured the man's view of Kaie a little. Maybe that was why it had gone so easily. Considering the man frowned the moment he moved in the way – it probably was.

**. . .**

The day went almost flawlessly. It was a little tedious teaching Kaie the ropes, but she learned fast. She also never complained or got angry when he had to correct her on something. Maybe she was simply grateful that he was helping her, or maybe she was really that easygoing. He supposed just because _his_ sekirei were difficult didn't mean that they all were.

"Madoka?" Kaie spoke as they walked home.

"Hm?" Madoka looked at her.

"Should I, um, should I introduce myself as Keisui now?" she asked. Her face was red as she said it.

"Err." That caught him totally off guard. "O-only at work or around people that are supposed to think you're my cousin. Otherwise you're j-just Kaie," he told her.

"I see, of course." She nodded. "You don't mind though?"

"No, it's fine." He shrugged. It's what they had to do for her to get the job right? So, why was she blushing so much?

**. . .**

"What are you grinning about?" Benitsubasa glared at him. Not the nicest welcome home he'd ever gotten.

"Nice to see you too," Madoka said. "Comfortable?" he asked, looking down at her on the couch.

"Oh yeah, I'm great. Only some minor throbbing across my entire body," she grumbled, crossing her arms stiffly. "So, why are you grinning?" Like a dog with a bone that one.

"I'm not."

"You were."

"I wasn't."

"You were!" Benitsubasa moved to sit up but her eyes immediately shot wide before slowly lowering herself down with a pained groan. "J-jerk."

"Is it a crime to be in a good mood?" Madoka shook his head. He had a pretty good idea about why she was getting riled up.

"You don't usually come home grinni-"

"I wasn't grinning." Madoka let out an impatient groan.

"-grinning." She scowled at him. "So what's different?"

"Noth-"

"Oh, actually, I do know what's different!" The look in her eye was nothing if not accusatory.

"Well whatever it is, I'm sure it's not that big of a deal," Madoka told her. Of course he knew she suspected Kaie was the reason for his abnormally elevated spirits. She wasn't entirely wrong, but he knew she had the wrong impression all the same. Just because Kaie was a pleasure to work with didn't mean Benitsubasa had anything to worry about. "Anyway, it's a long walk home. I need to use the bathroom."

He felt terrible about it, but part of him was glad that her injuries were still keeping her from being too animated. It meant she couldn't chase him as he "went to the bathroom."

After dinner, though, Benitsubasa limped off to his bedroom to rest. Oriha was in the kitchen as always, and Kaie was too, though Oriha's incessant glaring had caused her to pull a chair to the opposite end of the room. That left him with Sukaime in the living room. This worked out well, because he had a question for her.

"So," Madoka said.

"Hm? So what? So, Sukaime, you look especially pretty today. Your eyes sparkle like diamonds and your body-"

"Is fine, but I had a question," he cut Sukaime off before things got too ridiculous.

"You're no fun." Sukaime smiled though. "OK, shoot. What is it?"

"What's a norito?"

"Ooh, good question! Are you finally getting serious about things?" Sukaime grinned, kicking her feet excitedly.

"Well, considering that using one saved you three from dying, I figured I should know exactly what they are," Madoka told her.

"Right, well here it is. It's really not that complicated. Or maybe it is, but all you need to know is the basics. Which is good, because that's all _I _know!" Sukaime giggled. "OK look, when you kiss us our wings spread, right? We're connected to you, permanently. That makes you important. You're not here just to look pretty after all."

"Get to the point..."

"Hm, fine." Sukaime shrugged. "The kiss is how you winged us, and it's how you can interact with us. Oh sure you can talk to us and touch us, but kissing is special. It can be just for fun, or it can let us use our norito. When we want to remove another sekirei's wings, we use our norito, which is just a chant. But when you kiss us and we recite a norito, the chant will do a lot more; it'll let us use our powers on a much greater magnitude for a very short amount of time. Basically, we get one shot to go all out on our enemies."

"Wait, I remember. When I winged you, we kissed twice," Madoka spoke up, "did you...?"

"Yep, I used a norito!" Sukaime smiled. "You're a good student, Madoka-kun!"

"Um, thanks?"

"So, like I said, you're important. If you're not around during a fight, that means norito isn't an option. So if things get too hot, we're screwed without you," Sukaime explained, her expression turning a little more serious. "Is it all starting to sink in?" It was. He remembered his talk with Oriha again. It made sense now, he wasn't just there for moral support. The weight of the whole situation was starting to press down on him. The responsibility he had taken on by winging these sekirei was a lot bigger than he'd thought. He wasn't just along for the ride.

"I... I guess I'll try not to let you down," Madoka said. What else could he say? He probably should have said something a lot more confidence inspiring than that, but nothing was coming to him.

"That's all I ask!" Sukaime chirped, and suddenly leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

"What have I told you?" Madoka scowled at her, though he felt his cheeks tingling with a blush.

"Right right, sorry. I guess my sex appeal is too much for your virginal self to handle. Don't want to overexcite you." Sukaime winked at him. Madoka's lips twitched. That was it, time to take her down a peg. He could do it with one sentence.

"I'm not a virgin." He had to keep himself from laughing. Her eyes widened, her lips turned white as they pressed together, turning her mouth into a thin line, while the rest of her face turned a lovely shade of deep red.

"O-oh," she said. "Um. Oh."

"Oh. Yeah, didn't see that coming did you?" He chuckled. "You know, for a while there I was thinking you didn't know how to blush."

"Y-you... You can't just drop a bombshell like that on me! My fragile heart might burst!" Sukaime whined and crossed her arms, looking away to hide her flushing face.

"I'll make you a deal. You keep that a secret and I won't tell Benitsubasa that for a few seconds your vocabulary was reduced to 'oh,' OK?" Now it was his turn to grin.

"What? Nooo! If you do that I'll never be able to keep her leashed in! All my work will be undone!" Sukaime begged. She threw herself prostrate on the couch, forehead to the seat, hands clutching at his pant leg.

"Leashed in?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Ah, sh-she's a good dog, isn't she?" Sukaime looked up at him nervously.

"Well." Madoka rolled his eyes. "She does like to bark."

"Ha!"

**. . .**

Things continued to go unusually well. Benitsubasa was in a better mood than usual and she seemed to just ignore Kaie's presence now rather than take a fit over it. Yesterday had been Kaie's second day on the job, and so today she was an official employee. He had to assume MBI had interfered somehow since no such person as "Keisui, Kaie" actually existed. Yes, things were going smoothly. Why, why for the love of god could things not just keep going smoothly? Because, just over halfway through the work day, the door opened and two customers walked in.

"This is so demeaning! But I'm not losing to you, I don't' care if it's shopping!" A rather shrill, female voice shouted. OK, that was a little strange.

"Musubi won't lose either!" Fuck. Madoka peeked around the corner of a shelf to confirm his fears. Upon seeing the girl he immediately ducked back behind the shelf. Yes, yes it really was her. Musubi, the sekirei who had _really_ wanted to "meet" Benitsubasa. "Oh, hello!"

"GAH!" Madoka nearly fell over in shock. She'd found him already.

"Sorry, did I scare you..." She looked down at his name-tag. "Madoka-san?" He'd never told them his name. He guessed they hadn't thought to check his tag last time. Well, she knew now.

"N-no, not at all," he glanced to the side. It had only given him a minor heart attack. "Don't tell me you ate all the rice already." He grimaced. He knew how much a sekirei could eat.

"Not yet!" The girl was way too happy. Benitsubasa would hate her on principle just for that. Well, that and for being a sekirei. "We're here for some other things this time."

"We?" Madoka hadn't recognized the other voice with her.

"Musubi! Stop wasting time!" Speaking of which, he could now see who the other voice belonged to. It was a woman in an outfit that he couldn't quite describe, but it involved a lot of white and black. Her chest was heavily exposed, showing off a substantial portion of her breasts, and her skirt was way too short. Looking at it, it reminded him slightly of Oriha's outfit, but far more revealing. Putting it simply, it was a tiny white dress with a long black overcoat that flowed down her back. Her long hair and her eyes were the same color as his, though her eyes were a solid blue.

"Oh, sorry," Musubi apologized, "but Tsukiumi, this is Madoka. He's an ashikabi!" Madoka winced at that. Tsukiumi was definitely a sekirei, and she must have belonged to Minato. He wasn't sure he wanted her to know about him. And how many sekirei did Minato have?

"Nice to meet you?" Madoka greeted her nervously.

"What?" Tsukiumi was now glaring at him intensely. So much for nice. "Hmph, and are any of his sekirei here?"

"Apparently they only meet him after work. I want to meet them though!" Musubi explained excitedly.

"Not. Happening." Madoka twitched. "Can you please just get whatever you came for and go? Otherwise, please find somewhere else to shop."

"Why you-" Tsukiumi growled.

"I'm going! I still want to meet your sekirei some day!" Musubi chirped, not perturbed in the slightest.

"H-hey! Wait for me!" As the two headed off into the store Madoka let out a long sigh. They left as violently as they came. It looked like they were racing. With a groan he got back to work. It was a smaller store, so he liked to just constantly restock and reorganize the shelves as people came and went. It kept him from getting too bored. There was usually always just enough to do to keep him busy, but not always.

"Madoka-san?" He turned to see Kaie peering at him from another aisle, just her eyes and the top of her head visible over the dividing shelves. "Were they sekirei?"

"Yeah. Did they see you?" he asked. She wasn't his, or even winged, but something told him that wouldn't keep her safe. She shook her head though.

"I hid. Do they come here often?"

"Apparently. This is the second time I've seen the brunette," he told her, "I'm betting we'll run into them again."

"OK. I'll be careful then," she said, and then got back to work.

"Good."

**. . .**

"Why do you have to stay in here?" Oriha asked. For whatever reason, Kaie had seen fit to invade the kitchen. As far as Oriha was concerned, the kitchen was hers. Well, technically it was Madoka's, but normally she had to the room to herself when she wanted. She hardly ever had to share the room except when someone was hungry. Well dinner was over, so why was Kaie still there?

"Am I bothering you?" Kaie asked from across the room. Well for one, just her being in the house bothered Oriha. Also, she was creepy. Kaie just sat there, silent, not doing anything. How could anyone be _that_ patient?

"Why are you so quiet?" Oriha squinted suspiciously.

"I assumed you didn't wish to speak to me," Kaie told her simply.

"Well, yeah, but don't you get bored?" Oriha asked.

"Very," Kaie stared at her. "I wouldn't mind a conversation." Oriha opened her mouth, but then shut it. She honestly hadn't expected that. She'd thought Kaie had some trick to silently amuse herself, or would at least lie.

"Oh. Well, t-too bad," Oriha scoffed. There was just one problem with that. The problem being Oriha's own mind numbing boredom.

**. . .**

"No, I told you the first day, that goes here," Madoka told Kaie. It was her fifth and final day, for the week, on the job.

"The owner made us change it yesterday, remember?" Kaie counter-corrected him. Madoka stood there mouth open before shaking his head. She was right. Of course he'd gotten his job down to a science, and now the first time he had someone who he was supposed to be training, she was correcting him. That put a small crack in his fragile pride. It was sad that this job was all he felt had to pride himself on.

"Sorry," he said, and Kaie smiled and moved along. At least she'd been nice about it. He then looked up and saw Minato walk into the store. He felt he must have turned white as a sheet. "I'll quit, I swear I'm just going to quit this job," he muttered to himself. "_Fuck _this job." He wasn't getting paid enough to deal with this, though it wasn't like he could complain. What was he supposed to say to his boss? He had to leave because there were too many sekirei around? Yes, because that would go just swimmingly.

He tried to hide, but he swore the other ashikabi must have been looking for him.

"Oh, hey, Madoka-san right?" Minato said when he found him.

"That's what it says." Madoka glanced down at his own name tag.

"Oh, r-right, sorry."

"So, I doubt you're just here for pleasant conversation," Madoka said.

"Actually I heard about how you ran into my sekirei-"

"HI!" Musubi suddenly popped out from behind a shelf, giving Madoka his second heart attack of the week. He hadn't even seen her come in. Probably because he hid the second he saw Minato.

"P-please stop doing that," Madoka pleaded.

"Sorry." Musubi looked embarrassed.

"Anyway," Minato reinserted himself into the conversation. "I got the impression that Tsukiumi, err, she's the-"

"Crazy, angry, blonde one?" Madoka said. "Musubi introduced us." Minato chuckled nervously at that.

"Yeah, I guess she wasn't as polite as she could have been, so I wanted to apologize. I figure we should be nice to the person who sells our food." Madoka was about to tell him that he only stocked the shelves, but then figured he probably shouldn't discourage them if they wanted to play nice.

"That would be appreciated, yes."

"We should be friends!" Musubi said.

"Ye- Wait, what?" Madoka had to blink a few times. Had he heard that right? From "meeting" Benitsubasa to friends?

"Well when I reminded her that we get our food here, she suddenly thought we should make friends with you," Minato explained. "I figured it wouldn't be a bad idea since we'll probably be running into each other a lot. I thought we might as well get to know each other, and m-maybe you'd come over for dinner; to show there's no hard feelings."

"Right," Madoka stared at him hard. "Minato-san... are you hitting on me?"

"I-I-I, bu- I-I just me-" Minato began stuttering wildly, totally caught off guard.

"That was a joke," Madoka said deadpan, "the whole sekirei thing has you flustered, huh?"

"I-I guess so," Minato sounded relieved.

"Eh, you'll get used to it." Madoka turned back to the shelves, trying to look busy, just in case.

"How long have been an ashikabi?" Madoka paused at Minato's question. How long _had_ it been? It was to the point where he no longer expected his house to be empty when he got home. He expected someone to be there to greet him. It was just hard to say what kind of greeting he would get. It usually depended on Benitsubasa's mood.

"It must be about two months now," Madoka told him.

"Wow, I found Musubi less than a month ago," Minato said, seeming impressed.

"I was his first, but he's gotten more since then. Tsukiumi makes four!" Musubi jumped in.

"You don't say," Madoka said casually. His expression went blank for a moment. He had _four_? He'd winged four sekirei in less than a month? "That's, um, wow. You don't waste time."

"Well half the time it's more like they used me to wing themselves," Minato laughed.

"I know the feeling." Madoka rolled his eyes. Benitsubasa had pretty much forced herself on him. No, no, she _had_ forced herself on him.

"So, would this weekend work? I could even meet you here tomorrow to lead you to where I'm staying. Oh, and our land lady knows about sekirei. Her husband worked for MBI, so you could even bring your sekirei if you wanted."

"Right, I bring my sekirei to you and your four sekirei..." Madoka didn't bother to hid the suspicion in his voice.

"It'll be fun!" Musubi smiled. Somehow he couldn't imagine Musubi being part of a trap to terminate his sekirei and then just smiling about it. Then again, he didn't really know her. His Oriha had seemed like one of the sweetest girls he'd ever met, and yet not long ago she'd been coldly suggesting they terminate Kaie to reduce the competition. Wait, _his_ Oriha? He sighed.

"Look, if I did go,_ if_, I wouldn't bring my sekirei," Madoka said.

"Right, I uh, I understand." Minato forced a smile.

"Aww, I wanted to meet her!" Musubi pouted.

"That's what worries me," Madoka muttered, "anyway, I need to keep working before I get fired."

"Fair enough, I'll swing by tomorrow around four and see if you're here." Minato nodded.

"No promises."

**. . .**

Madoka was getting sick of not sleeping in his bed, but Benitsubasa's back was still sore according to her. Of course, now that he'd spent a week of sleeping like she did, he wouldn't be surprised if she was lying just because she really wanted to sleep in a real bed. He'd done his best to make the couch and floor comfortable, but he didn't have that many spare blankets. It might have been about time to upgrade things for them.

This all meant when Kaie wanted to talk to him, he wasn't hard to find. Then again, it was fairly well known by then that his door didn't have a lock, so did it really make a difference where he was?

"Are you really going to go through with it?" she asked him. "I overheard... again."

"Considering it," he told her. "If he's friendly I don't want to blow him off and if he's dangerous I want to find out. I doubt he'll hurt me as long as everyone else stays here. I'll do my best to figure out how honest he's being and go from there."

"You think you'll be able to do that?"

"Unless he's a master manipulator, my first impressions suggest a glaring lack of self-confidence. I'm hoping that means if he's hiding anything that it'll be easy to see through him. He just doesn't strike me as the conniving, malicious type," Madoka explained. Minato had been easily flustered and nervous, so he was fairly confident that if Minato _was_ trying to trick him, he'd be able to tell. He was fairly hopeful though, he really didn't seem like the bad type, and neither did Musubi. Well, it seemed like he'd just decided to go for it.

"The way you're talking, you have a lot of experience with this kind of thing?" Kaie asked with a curious tilt of her head.

"Not at all!" Madoka laughed, forcing a grin. "I could be totally screwed!"

"So, you are going through with it?" Kaie looked outright puzzled now.

"At the very least I get a free meal." He shrugged. "Anyway, time for bed, unless you have any more questions."

"No, um, good luck, Madoka-san," Kaie said, a faint blush coming over her. "I hope you stay safe."

"Oh, thanks." Just another awkward moment among many.

**. . .**

And so it was that Madoka found himself standing outside his job on his day off, waiting for Minato. He'd had to lie through his teeth to get out without anyone following him. He felt like he had to lie or sneak around his sekirei a little too often. The guilt _may_ have been starting to get to him. It wasn't like he was cheating on them though. Hell, it wasn't like he was even "with them" in that capacity. He should be able to do whatever he wanted! They just happened to be really, _really_ stubborn and made it so that subterfuge was usually the path of least resistance.

**. . .**

"So, we all agree that what Madoka told us is complete bull?" Sukaime asked. Oriha and Benitsubasa nodded. "So, we follow him?" Another set of nods. It seemed they'd finally found something they could all agree on.

"Are you sure? I mean, if he left on his own he must have a reason." It was Kaie.

"Then he shouldn't have lied!" Benitsubasa argued.

"The truth might have been more troublesome," Kaie mumbled.

"Oh, does the outsider know something we don't?" Sukaime crossed her arms.

"No, but I just don't see why your ashikabi would lie for no reason. Assuming he was lying, of course." Sukaime stared at her hard. This girl was good, she couldn't read her very well. She was fairly certain Kaie was covering something up though.

"Hm, well, he's gone all day and now he abandons us on the weekend too? No way, we're crashing his party to fulfill our own selfish desires!" Sukaime announced.

Oriha rolled her eyes. "That's... one way to put it."

"I'm just making sure he's not meeting anyone I don't want him to!" Benitsubasa claimed. Playing the jealous card was she? Actually, Sukaime believed her.

**. . .**

Kaie found herself sitting outside on the front steps. Now that Madoka's sekirei had left, it was too quiet and lonely inside. Outside at least she could enjoy the wind gently playing with her hair. She wanted to follow Madoka as well, but she wasn't his; she didn't belong. As nice as Madoka was, she knew she was barely tolerated.

"Are you sure it's safe to just be sitting outside like that?" She heard a voice speak to her. She looked to see someone leaning against the house. She hadn't even noticed his approach. She felt stupid for letting her guard down so much. The person was a man with a rather slight figure wearing a black jacket, pants, and gloves along with a mask over his lower face. His hair was silver and his eyes brown.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Kaie asked, hoping to ascertain his intentions.

"An unwinged sekirei, alone, not paying attention? There are some who would take advantage of that," he told her, "you're living with an ashikabi though, aren't you? I find that strange."

"Is it?" She stared at the sidewalk, her expression blank.

"Yes. He knows you are a sekirei, correct? But he hasn't winged you. He doesn't want you. Do you not want him?" She could feel him staring at her, waiting for her answer.

"I'm indebted to him," she answered.

"Your point?"

"I'm just a temporary burden right now. If I were winged that would change."She glanced at him. How long did he plan on questioning her? Who was he?

"So you _have _considered being winged by him?"

"Yes. I reacted to him, but he can't be my ashikabi." She tried to keep calm, but she was wringing her hands. Her emotions were beginning to overpower her self control.

"I don't see why not. If you re-"

"He promised his sekirei he wouldn't wing me. He barely has room for me. I have to work just so he can feed me. Winging me would bring him trouble. I don't want to remember the day I was winged as the day I burdened my ashikabi." She shut her eyes and took a deep breath. "Maybe I'll meet another ashikabi I can react to."

"I can't be certain, but I don't know if that's possible. If it is, I'd imagine it's very unlikely." He sighed and turned away, but looked over his shoulder. "This person is your ashikabi. I suggest you come to a decision before something happens to ruin this for you." And then he was gone.

Kaie bit her lip and clenched her eyes shut. She'd already had those thoughts running through her mind. Why had he had to put her through that again?

* * *

><p><strong>This chapter was actually becoming too long. I know what you're thinking, that last chapter was longer wasn't it? Yes, but this chapter was becoming even longer. So what did I do? I decided to extend it further, and then cut it in half to make it more manageable.<br>**

**(Fixed up in batch three of my edits.)**

**Til' next time!**


	15. I Hate Rice Again

**I Hate Rice Again**

Madoka sighed. He'd shown up early and so he was left waiting for Minato to show up. He hadn't been under any obligation to show up. He knew his sekirei wouldn't mind and in fact would prefer if he went home, but no, he'd already walked all the way to the meeting spot. He felt he needed to go through with the invitation and feel things out.

Eventually Minato showed up to lead him to where he'd be eating dinner. He said the place was called "Izumo Inn." The place turned out to be very nice, immaculately kept, though not especially grand. It was _far _better than where he lived though. It was definitely big enough to accommodate Minato, his four sekirei, and then some. It once again reminded him that he needed to improve the sleeping arrangements back home...

"So, this landlady is expecting me, right?" Madoka asked. He suddenly felt nervous, not about traps, but about imposing. He felt like he didn't belong here. Then again, if this Minato guy was_ living_ here, maybe he wasn't so out of place.

"Of course. I told her yesterday," Minato told him as they walked in the front door. Right upon entering he saw a stunning girl in a tight shirt and jeans. The fact that he didn't just stop and stare made him think that all these sekirei running around was making him way too used to the sight of attractive women.

"Ooh, who's this?" the girl stopped and looked at him.

"Oh, uhh, I don't think I told you-"

"Oh oh, the ashikabi you met? Miya told me. She wanted to make sure I wore pants when I left my room." She giggled and then smiled slyly at Madoka. "I see you looking. Sorry, I'm taken." Well, maybe he wasn't_ that_ desensitized. He glanced between her and Minato a few times before pointing questioningly at Minato. "Oh, no, my ashikabi lives elsewhere, but I can't be there right now," she explained, sadness flitting across her eyes for a moment.

"Ah, well, his loss," Madoka grinned, trying not to let his nerves get to him. Uzume smiled at this.

"A charmer, huh?"

"Not at all..." Madoka had to look away. Was he seriously flirting with a winged sekirei? Well, at least Benitsubasa wasn't here. He liked his skeleton the way it was. Intact. "I didn't catch your name."

"Oh, sorry, I should introduce you two," Minato interjected nervously, "Madoka, this is Uzume."

"Madoka? Isn't that a girl's name?" Uzume laughed.

"I thought I was done with that when I entered high school." Madoka sighed. "It goes both ways."

"Sorry, sorry, I couldn't resist. Nice to meet you." Uzume nodded, and then turned to face into the inn. "Miya-san! They're here!" she called out. Moments later a delicately figured women with long, lavender hair in traditional clothing walked out.

"Oh, Keisui-san is it?" she asked.

"Err, A-Asama-san?" Madoka blinked in surprise. "You?"

"Wait, you know each other?" Minato sounded almost as puzzled as Madoka felt.

"What? You didn't think I'd send you to get food at a store I'd never been to before, did you?" Miya chuckled. "No, of course not," she answered for him, "when you told me his name was Madoka, I wondered, but I thought I'd save the surprise and wait to see if it was really him. So you're an ashikabi?"

"Yeah." Madoka nodded. He was still trying to sort this out in his head. He remembered Miya vaguely, though it had been a while now. He frowned a little. Oh yes, he definitely remembered now. Less than a week on the job and she'd thought it would be funny to ask him for directions around the store even though she already knew where everything was. Well, on the bright side, after that he'd memorized everything perfectly. At least she'd been nice to him after she'd finished giggling at him.

"Well, I'm glad it turned out this way rather than you two fighting," Miya told him, "don't worry, you'll be safe here. I don't allow fighting in my inn. I see you've already met Uzume, living proof that Minato can coexist with sekirei that aren't his own." She stared at him for a moment. "Can _you_, Keisui-san?"

"Sure. I'm really not that eager to engage in the fighting to be honest," Madoka assured her. It was like her eyes were staring right through him into his soul. Had she always been this intimidating?

"Excellent!" Once again, all smiles. "Dinner is almost ready. I'm used to Minato bringing around more empty mouths, so feel free to help yourself once it's done." He glanced over and saw that Minato looked like he was trying to shrink and hide himself. Had he _seriously _been suspecting this guy of setting a trap? He was a total pansy.

"Well, I didn't see that coming. Anyway, I'm gonna go sit down," Uzume said and gave them a quick wave. Though, as she walked away she practically had to dive out of the way when Musubi charged down the hall and tackled Minato.

"I-I wasn't gone that long," Minato said shakily, having nearly been thrown off his feet.

"But I was excited! Miya-san made me stay and help set up the table, and I made sure there were plenty of seats for everyone!" Musubi told him, hugging him tightly.

"W-we only have o-one guest." It sounded like he was having trouble breathing.

"Aww, his sekirei didn't come?" Musubi backed off, but still held him at arm's length. "I set up extra seats just in case!"

"Sorry," Madoka said with a helpless shrug. Just in case huh? He suddenly felt suspicious. He slowly backed up until he was standing in front of the door. He spun around and whipped it open, just in time to see a flash of pink duck behind the wooden fence that surrounded Izumo. However, a pink ponytail was still dangling within view. "I can see your hair," Madoka called out. A gloved hand shot and and pulled the hair behind cover. Madoka slowly closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose, and sighed.

"I'm not stupid," Madoka said. He cracked an eye open a moment later and saw Benitsubasa, head hung low, walk into view. He shut his eye again. "Sukaime, I know you would have come with her." One. Two. Three. "And I know Oriha wouldn't have stayed home alone." One. Two. Three. He opened his eyes to see his three sekirei standing in the inn's front walkway with guilty expressions on their faces. Well, at least he assumed Sukaime's little grin was one of nervous guilt. He turned his head to look at Minato and Musubi. "So, if it's not too much trouble, how many extra places did you set?"

"We have enough!" Musubi cheered happily. "Wow, they're all so tiny!"

"Who's tiny?" Benitsubasa shouted angrily. So much for first impressions.

"You're not _that_ much bigger than them, Musubi." Minato smiled anxiously.

"Err, why don't you go on ahead. I need to talk to my sekirei," Madoka said, already making his way over to them. He glanced back and saw Musubi following Minato farther into Izumo. He was alone with his sekirei. "So, what's up?" he asked them, letting his annoyance bleed into his voice.

"W-we, umm," Oriha fumbled with her words, fidgeting nervously.

"Stop sniveling!" Benitsubasa snapped at her. "What's up?" She turned back towards him. "What's. Up?" Her hands balled into fists. "What the hell is up with _you_? What is this place? Who are these people? They clearly know about sekirei!"

"OK, so I might have met another ashikabi," Madoka said, "and he might have invited me over for dinner."

"So you said yes and didn't tell us?" Sukaime asked, raising an eyebrow as she crossed her arms. So much for guilt. Now he was on the receiving end.

"Well I knew you wouldn't let me go alone, and I didn't want to drag you into a trap." Madoka rubbed the back of his neck.

"So you were just looking out for us? Is that it?"

"Well, that makes sense," Oriha said. Benitsubasa immediately glared at her. "Wh-what?"

"Look, you're here now. Can you three behave? I'm pretty sure we're safe and we get a free meal." He looked from girl to girl.

"I-is my cooking not good enough?" Oriha pouted.

"It's great, but wouldn't you like someone to cook for you for a change?"

"Maybe." Oriha began fidgeting again.

"Seriously? Traitor!" Benitsubasa growled.

"Benitsubasa, behave or go home. Pick one," Madoka commanded, staring at her sternly.

"Wh-... bu-... f-fine," Benitsubasa relented.

"Thank you," Madoka patted her on the head. Her face flushed despite the deep frown she wore. "I assume you two are willing to behave as well?" He looked at Oriha and Sukaime who both nodded. With that settled, Madoka took a deep breath to calm himself before leading them into the inn.

"Well, you actually came back," Miya said when they got to the dining room. There was a long, low table with floor pillows set up to sit on. A smaller table had been placed at the end of the long table to make room for them.

"Of course. Just had to have a quick talk with them. I hadn't planned on them being here," Madoka replied, referring of course to his sekirei.

"They're so cute!" Musubi practically bounced over. His eyes widened when she made a b-line towards Benitsubasa, grabbing her hand. This girl had no concept of personal space. She also had no concept of how aggressive Benitsubasa was. This wouldn't end well.

"Umm, th-thank you," Benitsubasa averted her eyes from Musubi and held her arm out limply, just enduring the invasion of her personal space. Madoka was about ready to eat his shoe. She'd agreed to behave, but was she really letting another sekirei touch her? However, he could see the struggle in her eyes. She was already at her limit with just that.

"I dunno, I think Oriha-chan is cuter!" Sukaime suddenly grabbed said girl by her shoulders and pushed her forward. "Just look at her: The dress, the bow in her hair, and that porcelain skin! She's like a doll!" Musubi instantly seemed the forget about Benitsubasa, eyes shining as she looked Oriha over.

"You're right!" Musubi agreed. Leave it to Sukaime to come to the rescue with her quick thinking.

"Now now, calm down Musubi. Dinner is just about ready. In fact, since you're so pleased to have guests, why don't _you_ help me bring out the food," Miya interrupted the antics.

"OK!" Musubi quickly went over to her.

"You too Sahashi-san," Miya said to Minato before heading out of the room with the two in tow.

They were left in the room with Uzume and took seats at the extra table. Before long, though, the room filled. As Miya, Musubi, and Minato brought food to the table a few others showed up to sit at the table. He recognized Tsukiumi and the little girl, Kuu. Last to arrive was a girl wearing glasses, with long red hair tied into a pair of braids, one going over each shoulder, and the rest left loose to flow down her back. Minato's fourth sekirei he presumed since her tight, white Chinese style dress wasn't exactly a common sight. Sekirei seemed to share a unique sense of fashion. Though he had to say, compared to most sekirei, she dressed quite simply. If it wasn't for the strange sleeves that weren't actually attached to the rest of her outfit, she could have almost passed for normal. Almost. The high split all the way up to her hips was bound to attract stares if she were to leave the inn.

"Well, now that everyone is here, why don't we get introductions out of the way," Miya suggested once they were all sitting, "Keisui-san, I believe you've met everyone except for Matsu-san." She gestured to the red-haired girl. For some reason, Matsu giggled as she adjusted her glasses.

"Yes, yes, a pleasure to meet you, Keisui Madoka-san," she greeted him, "I'm sure by now you've guessed that I'm one of his sekirei. I believe you'll be an interesting friend for Mina-tan."

"Interesting?" Minato asked.

"Of course, he has three sekirei. Almost as many as you, Mina-tan. He's been an ashikabi longer as well, right?" Matsu smiled. This girl made him feel rather uneasy for some reason. "Interesting. But enough of me. I know you've met Mina-tan's other sekirei, but your sekirei haven't. These are Musubi, Kusano, and Tsukiumi. Why don't you introduce yours now."

"Right," Madoka cleared his throat. "The miserable looking one is Benitsubasa," he began, earning a scowl from said girl. She seriously needed to cheer up. He pointed to Sukaime next. "That's Sukaime, don't tell her anything embarrassing about yourself-"

"Not cool!" Sukaime pouted.

"And the one who looks like a doll is Oriha!" Musubi suddenly chimed in. Sukaime immediately went from pouting to chortling, doing her best not to outright laugh.

"D-do I really look like a doll?" Oriha whispered to Madoka, looking embarrassed. He couldn't blame her.

"No, 'course not," Madoka told her quietly. Yes, yes she did.

"How amusing," Miya commented. He was having trouble telling if she was really amused. "Well then, shall we eat?" With the introductions out of the way, they did just that along with some idle chatter. The most talkative ended up being himself, since he was basically the center of attention, Minato, Musubi, Matsu, Uzume and Sukaime. Kuu was plenty animated, but didn't seem to be much for words, while Tsukiumi just glared at him and his sekirei a lot.

**. . .**

The food eventually dried up, but they were still all at the table, talking and laughing. Madoka was starting to feel comfortable in their company. His sekirei were a different story. Sukaime was smirking away, enjoying some witty banter with Uzume, but that was Sukaime. Benitsubasa had inched her way over to his side and was leaning against him heavily, eyes pointed down. She hadn't said a word for quite some time. Oriha didn't look too happy either.

"Asama-san-" Madoka turned to the woman.

"Oh please, call me Miya. You're making me feel like an old lady." Miya chuckled.

"Ah, OK. Miya-san. You cooked everything yourself?" He had an idea.

"Yes, was it not to your liking?" she asked.

"It was delicious. Oriha here's a pretty good cook herself, it's just a shame my kitchen doesn't really match up to her skill level though," Madoka told her. Just like he was hoping, Oriha immediately perked up once he began talking about her.

"Really?" Miya said, looking thoughtful."Well why didn't you say so sooner? With so many hungry mouths cooking gets tiring, but if I had a hand, maybe I could make desert." She looked at Oriha. "Would you care to join me? I'm sure a few people here are still willing to eat." Oriha looked at Madoka questioningly.

"Go on, wow us," he urged her. Oriha looked a little reluctant, but soon followed Miya out of the room.

They took a lot longer than he would have expected to be necessary to prepare desert, but then what did he really know about cooking? Finally they did come back with some sort of pudding. Oriha brought him a small bowl filled with it herself.

"It's good, Miya-san!" Musubi said as she ate it.

"Oh no, it was Oriha-san. I just taught her how to make it," Miya explained.

"Wow!" Musubi smiled at Oriha. Oriha looked down at the table, but Madoka could see a small smile tugging at her lips.

"Umm, are you gonna try it?" Oriha asked him. He took a small spoonful and lifted it to his lips. It was sweet.

"There's no way you made this, you're good, but you're not _that_ good," Madoka scoffed.

"I-I did! Really!" Oriha insisted.

"I tease." He grinned. "You remember how to make it?" She nodded in response. "You're gonna end up making me fat." He shook his head. Now it was time for part two of his plan. He turned to Benitsubasa who was still leaning on him, looking bored and dispirited. "Hey, cheer up, you're killing the mood." He took another spoonful of the pudding and held it up to her. He grinned when her eyes went wide and she looked up at him.

"Y-you're...?" Benitsubasa blinked in disbelief.

"Go on."

"B-but you said it was a one time thing," she reminded him. He'd almost forgotten about the time when she'd hurt her hands and hadn't been able to feed herself.

"Good point." He pulled the spoon away and moved to eat it himself. In a flash her hand shot out and grabbed his wrist. She pulled it back and ate the pudding. For a moment they just stared at each other. Her face was red, and he was sure his must have been as well. Then her eyes widened and she ripped the spoon from his hand and snatched the pudding bowl as well. Apparently she liked it.

"Minato-kun, will you feed me?" Madoka saw Musubi asking Minato.

"What? No! N-not unless he does it to me first!" Tsukiumi argued. Kuu just growled. Well, Madoka wasn't really sure how to describe the sound Kuu made, but a growl was close enough.

"Wh-what? Isn't it usually the other way around?" Minato held his hands up defensively, looking overwhelmed.

It seemed he and Benitsubasa had started a trend.

**. . .**

Desert hadn't lasted long. Between Musubi, Tsukiumi, and Benitsubasa, it had been devoured. What little they hadn't hoarded had been split between a few others. Benitsubasa was hoping that once Madoka had finished digesting a little they'd be on their way. A good thing had happened despite her hating the idea of dinner at another ashikabi's residence, but now she was ready to go home. And to top it off it was pissing her off at how much of a social butterfly Sukaime was being.

"Well, everyone seems to be done eating. In that case, Keisui-san, could I have a moment?" Miya said as she stood up.

"Uh, sure," Madoka replied and then followed her out of the room. Benitsubasa frowned, what was that about? Miya was definitely too old for Madoka, so that didn't worry her, but that did nothing for her curiosity. Though, while one would assume that Miya was older, she didn't look that old. She shook her head. Old or not, what reason would she have to do anything to her Madoka? She bit her thumbnail, trying to quell the various discordant thoughts bubbling up in her mind.

"Excuse me, Benitsubasa-san?" Now it was her being spoken to, by Musubi this time.

"What?" Benitsubasa snapped.

"S-sorry, am I bothering you?" Musubi looked startled.

"Oh don't mind her, I'm sure she was just busy fantasizing when you tried to talk to her. Go on, ask away!" Sukaime assured the other sekirei. Benitsubasa glowered at Sukaime. She had no desire to speak with Musubi.

"OK!" Musubi chirped. Dammit. "You've been with your ashikabi a while now right? Have you been in any fights?" The girl seemed quite excited to find out. Well, if it was about fighting Benitsubasa supposed she had a few moments to indulge her.

"Yes, a few. Obviously I won them all," Benitsubasa replied. Well, it wasn't a total lie. Besides, there was no way in hell she was going to explain that she'd actually lost a fight. Or two... or three...

"Wow!" Musubi's eyes were practically glowing. "You must be strong!"

"Oh totally, out of the three of us I'd bet she's the strongest!" Sukaime chimed in. Benitsubasa was about to yell at her, but then what Sukaime had actually said sunk in. Was she serious? She decided to come back to that later. She looked back at Musubi who now looked fit to burst from excitement. She was actually waggling her rear a little, like a dog.

"What about you, Musubi-chan?" Sukaime asked. "Behind that lovely figure must be a fighter. I can see it in your eyes!" The compliment somehow made Musubi look even more happy and excited.

"O-oh, well, I've only had one fight so far, but I won! It wasn't easy though, she tore almost all of my clothes off!" Musubi retold.

"Oho! Sounds exciting!" Sukaime grinned. She _would _find that exciting. Benitsubasa rolled her eyes.

**. . .**

Meanwhile, Madoka was alone in a separate room with Miya. He had no idea what Miya wanted from him or why she'd want to talk to him. He supposed he was about to find out, now wasn't he?

"So, you seemed to be enjoying yourself," Miya commented.

"Yeah, everyone was surprisingly easy to get along with. Well, except-"

"Tsukiumi?"

"Tsukiumi."

"She's the jealous type. I think most sekirei are, really, she's just far more vocal about it than some," Miya said.

"I understand. Benitsubasa's like that. Honestly, I'm surprised she's been so good. I'd have expected her to have caused some kind of commotion by now," Madoka explained with a nervous smile.

"She trusts you, clearly, or I suspect she would have," Miya told him. "It takes a good ashikabi to make a sekirei defy her nature." She smiled slyly and giggled. Madoka shifted his weight uncomfortably. He wasn't that good, at least he didn't think so. Miya's expression turned more serious then. "But that's not why I wanted to talk to you."

"I figured." Madoka sighed. This was it... whatever "it" was.

"You _were _enjoying yourself. So was Minato. I suspect this won't be the last we'll see of you. Hopefully the next time we meet things will be just as peaceful as tonight was." She stared at him hard. "And if not, please do try to keep any fighting from taking place here. I'd be quite upset if anything was damaged." Madoka gulped when she finished. Had she seriously pulled him aside to threaten him? At least the scary aura she was emitting certainly made it feel like a threat.

"O-of course. N-no intention of having any f-fights happe-"

"Yeah? You're on!" His heart sank. That had been Benitsubasa. What was going on back there? Suddenly Benitsubasa and Musubi burst into the room.

"Miya-san, I have a question!" Musubi waved her arm in the air like she was in a classroom.

"Oh my, what could it be?" Miya asked innocently. Somehow Madoka got the impression Miya already knew where this was going. Somehow, he was pretty sure he did too.

"Can I spar with Benitsubasa like I do with you? We'll be careful!" Musubi requested. He'd never met someone to whom the topic of fighting brought such joy.

"Wait what?" Madoka said. Then the entirety of the sentence hit him. "Wait... what?" His eyes went wide and he looked at Miya.

"Something wrong?" Miya asked him.

"You... spar... with sekirei?" Madoka couldn't make sense of it.

"Oh ho ho," she laughed. "No no, just some light training and pointers. Nothing too serious."

"So can we?" Musubi was practically, no, literally bouncing. Disregarding, for the moment, that Miya seriously "trained" with sekirei, he went over to Benitsubasa and pulled her aside, grabbing her arm.

"What. The. Hell?" He hissed. "You know, I was actually impressed by you, and then you go an-"

"This was her idea. I'm not going to turn down a challenge. Besides, you dragged me into those training matches before. How is this different?" Benitsubasa avoided his eyes, looking subdued by his words. He immediately regretted being so harsh. What was more, she was right.

"Yeah, all right," he said and patted her on the head. She still looked upset, but her cheeks gained a nice red tinge. "But still, I-"

"Well, I suppose one short match would be fine. We can all watch and make sure nothing goes wrong. Just remember, any damage to Izumo is unacceptable!" Miya announced cheerfully. So cheerfully that chills went down his spine.

"Yay!" Musubi cheered and then raced down the hall. He heard a door slide open in the distance. He looked down and saw Benitsubasa staring up at him. He realized she was actually waiting for his permission.

"Yeah, yeah, let's go," Madoka said reluctantly. It was just a friendly spar right? Besides, any fighting experience Benitsubasa could get safely was a good thing he figured. She'd had a few rough experiences lately.

"Go on ahead, follow Musubi-san. I'll go get everyone else. I'm sure Minato at least will want to watch. Or regardless, he _should _watch," Miya told them before heading back to the dining room.

Madoka had Benitsubasa take the lead as they went to find Musubi. Before long they found a door left open, leading to a yard behind the house. Musubi was busy stretching in anticipation of the fight. He kept telling himself it wasn't a real fight, but he still felt nervous. This peaked when everyone else showed up. It was about to begin.

He stood behind Benitsubasa with Oriha and Sukaime, while everyone else stood off to the side near the house. The only exception was of course Musubi who was facing off with Benitsubasa.

Any moment now...

**. . .**

Benitsubasa was ready for this. There was no way she'd lose. There was no way this perky girl with her ridiculous body was going to be a match for her. She'd kick her ass and finally regain her pride. She couldn't bear to lose in front of Madoka again.

"I'm ready!" Musubi announced. With a nod from Miya, both of them launched off into an impending head-on collision. Musubi ended up throwing the first punch, but Benitsubasa ducked, throwing her own punch in response. Musubi blocked this, but Benitsubasa punched with her other hand. This was blocked as well, leaving both her hands trapped. Before she could attempt to pull away she was kneed in the stomach. She stumbled back, barely having time to raise both her hands up to catch Musubi's follow up punch.

With no chance to plan her next move, Benitsubasa was helpless as Musubi swung around behind her and elbowed her in the back of the head, sending her face-first into the ground. She got to her feet, wiping the dirt and grass off her face. She growled and turned, lunging at Musubi, but the girl leaned out of the way, grabbed her top by the shoulder with both hands, and then spun around, flinging her away.

She landed, the air flying out of her lungs in one big "whoosh." She lay there for a moment, just choking and trying to catch her breath. Had that really just happened? Finally she could breathe again and struggled to her feet.

"No... no one tosses me!" she roared. She just wanted to hit this girl. She just wanted to knock her teeth down her throat and make her pay. So that's what she aimed to do. She ran in, got close, threw a punch right at her face and... Musubi just flowed around her and kick her in the back, sending her flying to land at Madoka's feet in a heap.

"You OK?" Madoka asked, looking down at her. She just let out a long groan before pushing herself up. She bit her lip, this was humiliating. Musubi didn't stand and fight, she moved around too much. How was she supposed to hit her if she wouldn't sit still? None of her other opponents had done this! They had either fought at range or stood and fought face to face.

"I'm f-fine, I'm not giving up yet! This is nothing!" Benitsubasa insisted, turning to face her opponent once more.

"All right, go get her," Madoka said.

"R-right." She nodded. Had that been actual encouragement? She wasn't sure what to think, but she suddenly realized she wasn't quite so mad anymore. The hazy blanket of rage that had been fogging up her mind suddenly cleared. Oh, she still wanted to beat Musubi to a pulp, but she wasn't feeling to urge to just charge at her and keep punching until something happened. In fact, maybe she'd try kicking her instead.

Instead of charging in she took a proper fighting stance and closed in more steadily, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Once close enough, she went for a quick jab. If she didn't extend herself so much, Musubi wouldn't have time to slip past and get behind her. Musubi blocked it easily enough, but she wasn't able to grab her this time. Benitsubasa kept it up, a series of increasingly quick, vicious jabs that had Musubi starting to back away in an effort to keep up. Then Benitsubasa switched it up, throwing a kick with her right leg.

Musubi barely had time to react, but react she did. She took the kick to her side, but then trapped it under her arm. Benitsubasa saw her wince. She'd caught it, but it had hurt. Benitsubasa's next move was totally unexpected. She leaned back, snapping her left foot up in a kick that caught Musubi right under her chin. Musubi's head snapped back and she lost her grip on Benitsubasa's leg.

Benitsubasa completed her back flip once her leg was free and landed in a crouched position, ready to spring forward. Musubi was still stunned from the blow to her head, so Benitsubasa launched forward and then spun around, winding up a huge kick that was aimed right for Musubi's head. She was ready to finish this once and for all.

Her kick landed square in Musubi's gut, launching her off her feet and to the ground. She could follow up any number of ways. Maybe a kick to the jaw would be nice. She stood there for a moment, considering her next move.

"I think that's good enough for now, both of you had a decent showing," Miya interrupted her thoughts. "Both of you have some things you need to work on." However, Benitsubasa noticed that Miya was looking at only her when she spoke.

"Hmph, but mostly me right?" she asked, crossing her arms. She didn't like how she was being stared at.

"Perhaps. You left yourself open quite a few times. You were reckless. You're rather strong, but it means nothing if you get knocked about and can't hit your opponent. Just try to remember that," Miya told her. "It will help you when fighting an opponent who can stand up to you on your own ground." Benitsubasa just shrugged and walked back over to Madoka. Criticism or not, she felt like she'd won that fight.

"What about me? What do I need to do?" Benitsubasa froze when she heard Musubi's voice. She spun around and saw the other girl already back on her feet, eagerly awaiting Miya's response. She barely even looked winded. Benitsubasa stood there wide-eyed for a moment before gritting her teeth and clenching her fists. She'd kicked her that hard and what was the result? Hardly anything? With a low growl she stomped over to Madoka.

"I'm ready to go home," she muttered.

"Uh, right, sure. Let's go," Madoka replied. She was glad he didn't argue with her. She'd bit her tongue for as long as she could. She couldn't stand this place any longer. He said his farewells to their hosts and then led them home. The whole way no one spoke to her. The aura she was exuding was clear. She was to be left alone.

* * *

><p><strong>OK, the one thing I was never sure of, but never knew how to fix (assuming it needs to be) was the part where Benitsubasa is planning to kick Musubi in the head, possibly fatally, (at least in Benitsubasa's opinion) but then kicks her in the stomach. That is supposed to represent Benitsubasa choosing to restrain herself for Madoka's sake. Just wanted to make that clear, in case I messed it up.<strong>

**(Fixed up in batch three of my edits.)**

**Til' next time!**


	16. I Hate Lightning

**I Hate Lightning**

Benitsubasa was lying on the couch as usual, head propped up on the arm rest and legs crossed lazily. Her fingers, however, fidgeted madly and she didn't even notice as footsteps approached from behind.

"How you doing champ?" Benitsubasa had to resist the urge to elbow Sukaime in the face. The girl had suddenly ambushed her with a... surprisingly satisfying shoulder massage. She didn't necessarily want her to stop, but she had appearances to keep up.

"I'll be fine the second you back of-" Benitsubasa began, but suddenly she was hit by a wave of pleasure. Oh god. How the hell was Sukaime so good at that? "St-stop that!"

"Oh all right, but don't say I never did anything nice for you!" Sukaime walked around and plopped herself down on the other end of the couch. Benitsubasa could have easily kicked her. So easily it was outright tantalizing. Then again, Sukaime had been considerably less of a pain in the ass and was now more of an obnoxious pest that buzzed around. An obnoxious pest with magic fingers.

"Whatever," Benitsubasa grumbled.

"Would it kill you to be nice?" Sukaime questioned her.

"I don't want to hear that from _you_."

"Oh, fair enough." Sukaime patted Benitsubasa's foot. "So what happened with you last night? You went all serious and quiet. Seriously, you were so cool in that fight. I was all hot and bothered. I was hoping to give you a passionate night of-"

"Shut. Up." Benitsubasa refrained from yelling. It was Sunday, so Madoka was around somewhere. Sure her temper was a known quantity by now, Madoka and Oriha had literally felt it, but that didn't mean she wanted an audience. And considering the subject matter, she _definitely_ didn't want Madoka walking in on them.

"It wasn't exactly a real fight and it's not like you lost. What's wrong with you?" Sukaime crossed her arms, looking a little upset with Benitsubasa's attitude. Benitsubasa grit her teeth. She didn't want to deal with this right now.

"I'm fine," she insisted firmly.

"No you're not."

"Yes I am!"

"No you're not."

"Yes. I. AM!"

"No. You're. Not!" Sukaime added in an overly pleasant smile to punctuate her sentence.

"I didn't win!" Benitsubasa blurted out. To her surprise, or perhaps chagrin, Sukaime didn't react.

"And?"

"A-and what?"

"Aaand?"

"And... and she was toying with me! I get one good hit on her and then she gets back up like it was nothing!" She clenched her fists at the memory. "And so what the fight ended early, she would have just gotten back up. There was no way I was going to get another lucky shot like that!" She covered her face with her hands. Through the cracks between her fingers she could make out Sukaime shaking her head.

"You're right, she totally shrugged it off. She was tough. If it had gone on she probably could have beaten you. But you earned that kick, it wasn't luck. Sure she might have been ready for you if you had tried the same strategy again, but wouldn't most opponents?" Sukaime shrugged. "Just learn from it and stop sulking. If you're so convinced you lost, then figure out why and don't do it again." Benitsubasa's hands fell limply to her sides and she stared at Sukaime agape.

"Wh-what? Why are yo-" She stopped as Sukaime stood up.

"Don't say I never did anything nice for you." Sukaime winked and headed out of the room. "Oriha! Get that fine ass in gear and make me a snack!"

**. . .**

The silence was maddening. Masukagami was going to forget how her mouth worked at this rate. Sometimes she found herself talking to herself, or even pretending she was talking to Avaron. It was the only thing keeping Masukagami going. The last time they'd done anything together was the practice fight with their friends. She hadn't been congratulated for winning and she hadn't been comforted after Benitsubasa's verbal thrashing; she'd just quietly followed Avaron home. That had been over a week ago.

She'd tried everything. She'd been quiet and given her ashikabi space, but that just left her lonely and nothing changed. She'd tried being nice, but she was brushed off. She'd tried being physically affectionate, but was just sent away. She tried to be the perfect sekirei, attentive, loving, and not _too _smothering, but it was to no avail.

"Avaron-sama, lunch is ready!" she called out. She already had the dining table all set up with the food on it by the time Avaron showed up. The girl sat down without a word and began eating. "Um, i-is it good?" She wasn't the best cook, but she'd done her best. Avaron only gave her the slightest nod. "I'm glad."

Masukagami said that, but as she stared at her own plate she felt no such thing. There was no joy in her heart. The satisfaction she should have felt from Avaron approving of her cooking barely registered with her. It was moments like these that were closest to normal. She knew that. That was why she broke. A tear rolled down her cheek and then fell, lending its salty flavor to her food. Food that she couldn't eat. She'd just get sick. After the first came a flood.

She strained to at least be quiet if she was to cry. If she made a fuss she might upset Avaron. Twin rivers of tears drained down her cheeks to the table below, but only the faintest whimpers joined them. Her struggles amounted to nothing.

"Stop crying," Avaron ordered, her voice devoid of emotion. Masukagami gasped, but bit her lip; face contorting as she struggled to obey. Again, it felt pointless. Avaron picked up her plate and left. Soon she heard footsteps as Avaron went up the stairs to her room. Masukagami threatened to break the ensuing silence with her crying. Avaron had left, what reason was there to hold back now? But she'd been told not to cry, shouldn't she be disobedient? What use did Avaron have for her if she couldn't obey even the simplest command?

Her resolve wavered. She was going to fail. The silence broke, but not because of her. She was distracted from her inner turmoil when she heard a loud _bang _from the direction of Avaron's room. She immediately stood and rushed up the stairs to Avaron's room. The door was shut, so she knocked.

"A-Avaron-sama, are you OK?" she called out, worried. After a few moments, the door cracked open, allowing her to see just one of Avaron's eyes.

"I'm fine. I tripped," Avaron informed. She seemed perfectly calm.

"Oh." Masukagami was relieved. She'd overreacted and everything was fine. Avaron didn't need her.

"You can go," Avaron said and shut the door. Masukagami's shoulder slumped as she slowly turned to leave. It was exhausting living like this. The tension was eating her alive. She took two steps and then heard the door open again, and then felt a tug on her sleeve. She immediately halted. "Don't be sad."

"Wh-" Masukagami whipped around to see the door cracked open once more. Most of Avaron's face was still hidden, but her one visible eye was avoiding Masukagami. Avaron slid back and the door closed further, left open by only the faintest sliver.

"Please don't cry," Avaron said, and the door clicked shut. Masukagami threw herself at the door, pressing up against it.

"Avaron-sama! Just talk to me! Please!" she pleaded. There was no answer. She'd been given a tantalizing shred of hope, but now nothing. Still nothing.

**. . .**

Two months. It seemed like a long time, but at the same time it felt like the blink of an eye. A lot had happened, a lot had changed, and yet Benitsubasa's life had already fallen into a dull routine that made the days tend to blend together. If she hadn't known better, she'd have said it was still Sunday and she'd just finished talking to Sukaime about her fight with Musubi. It certainly felt the same. She was reclining and Sukaime was chattering.

"I just thought I should let you know, I have no idea what you're talking about," Benitsubasa muttered.

"Eh? I know you're a brute, but I'm pretty sure there's nothing complicated or confusing about ramen," Sukaime replied, pursing her lips in concern.

"What?" Benitsubasa raised an eyebrow. "I'm just saying I wasn't paying attention. Why are you talking about ramen?"

"Madoka doesn't have any! He doesn't even have any of that instant crap! I love ramen!" Sukaime whined. "It's to me what that cereal is to you!"

"Don't give me that! I hate instant ramen! My cereal is way better!" Benitsubasa argued. There weren't many instant foods she _did _like.

"Hm. Well unless Oriha knows how to. . ." Sukaime failed to finish her sentence. "D-do you think Oriha could make ramen? Like, _real_ ramen?"

"How the hell should I know? Ask her yourself, moron!"

"Moron? I don't want to hear that from you," Sukaime scoffed.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Benitsubasa said icily, glowering.

"Nothing dear!" Sukaime smiled pleasantly. "Hey, since you're not a cripple anymore lets grab Oriha and go meet Madoka! While we're there we can get stuff for ramen! We'll have a feast!"

"Ramen isn't that special," Benitsubasa spoke deadpan.

"_You're_ not that special."

"That was weak."

"_You're _weak."

". . ."

"Have I ever said how much I love you?"

"Have I ever told you to die?"

"Yes, and it hurt my feelings!" Sukaime crossed her arms and scowled.

"I'll hurt something else if you keep it up..."

**. . .**

Another day, another nine or so hours of mind numbing shelf sorting and stacking and cleaning and... yeah that was pretty much his life most days. Kaie made things a little better, but somehow there was always just enough to keep both of them busy throughout the whole day. During the gaps in working and their lunch break she was good for a pleasant conversation though.

Regardless, he was plenty ready to head home and relax. He'd gotten used to Kaie walking with him rather than his sekirei, and it wasn't necessarily a bad thing. He didn't have to listen to them bicker about every petty little thing. Of course, it was a bit crowded at home now, so relaxing could be a challenge depending on what mood everyone was in. Though, lately, things had gotten a bit calmer by some miracle.

"So, what do we have here?" a female voice spoke before he and Kaie had gotten far.

"Oh my fucking god," Madoka groaned. There was no way that anything good could be about to happen, not with that tone of voice. He nearly spat out a lung when he turned to see two women who could have been twins standing not far off. Their outfits made Toyotama's outfit look conservative. "Oh... my... fucking god."

"Hikari... he's staring..." Out of the two of them, the one who'd just spoken had far fewer curves to her body.

"Quit it you pervert!" the one who must have been Hikari yelled at him.

"Pervert? Don't give me that shit! Look at yourselves!" Madoka shouted in outrage. Hikari growled.

"Shut up, we're not here for you! Just get out of here and leave the her and we won't fry your ass!"

"What?" They were after Kaie?

"I haven't been winged. They must want to eliminate me before I become a bigger threat," Kaie told him. She seemed to have already resigned to her fate.

"No way! Let's go!" He moved to take her hand, ready to run like he had with Oriha. He flinched when a bolt of lightning struck the ground between him and Kaie. Suddenly running didn't seem like much of an option anymore.

"No, you go. You don't need to get hurt. I'm not your sekirei... this is my problem," Kaie told him. He could see the despair in her eyes. It was heart wrenching. He felt so helpless. So what she wasn't his? He'd taken her in, she was his responsibility until she was winged. Her not being winged was the whole problem though, wasn't it? She was there, out in the open because of him. What if...

"She's right, now stand back," Hikari snapped him out of his thoughts. She had linked hands with her counterpart and both aimed their hands at Kaie, fingers sparking with electricity. Then...

"Hikari!" the slighter of the two ducked and pulled her more shapely twin down with her. A split-second later a spinning blade whizzed by, missing them by a hair's breadth.

"What the hell was th-"

"Wait!" Hikari's twin once again pulled her down as a much larger and pointier weapon sailed past their heads. Madoka immediately knew who the culprits were. He felt a huge wave of relief wash over him.

"What the fuck is going on?" Hikari's face was red with fury.

"My sekirei tend to enjoy walking me home after work, that's what." Madoka grinned. He'd never been quite so happy to see his trio of sekirei. When he turned and looked at them, he noticed Benitsubasa seemed particularly... upset? He wasn't quite sure what it was he saw on her face.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa's eyes had gone wide. She was gritting her teeth. Her knuckles were blazing white. Her heart was fit to burst if it went any faster. There wasn't anything she could do about it. What she saw in front of her had her at her limit.

"What is this?" Benitsubasa hissed. She was trembling.

"Ignore them! Let's just deal with her and get out of here!" one of the two scantily clad sekirei said. She thought she'd heard her called Hikari when Oriha had attacked them. Speaking of which, the moment they moved, Oriha sent a pair of her chakram at them. Instead of ducking though, this time a field of electricity formed around the two, repelling the attack.

"Hikari, we're outnumbered," the other one said, sounding nervous.

"Stop whining, Hibiki!" Hikari scolded. However, she too seemed torn as she eyed the three of them. "Screw it, this many winged sekirei is a pain!"

"What? Now you're going to run?" Benitsubasa glared at them. Her gloves creaked as the material strained to contain her clenching fists. She caught Hibiki's eye and the girl flinched. She liked that. The other sekirei was scared and she could feel the hate Benitsubasa was exuding. "You're not going anywhere! Not until MBI comes to collect you!"

"Back off, we don't have a problem with you!" Hikari scoffed.

"No... problem?" Benitsubasa ground her teeth together. "You... you don't even remember me, do you?" She was about to snap. "How you chased me..."

"We chased a lot of sekirei. If you survived and got winged, then you should be happy-"

"I'll be happy when you're dead!" Benitsubasa screeched, lunging at them. She had to throw her arms up defensively when lightning tore apart the ground in front of her, spraying her with pebbles and various bits of shrapnel. When the dust cleared she could see them running. She growled loudly and turned to Oriha. "Stop them! I want their heads!"

"Benitsubasa, they're running, let's just go home," Madoka said to her.

"No! They earned this!" Benitsubasa refused. She'd learned to listen to him about a lot of things, but this was personal. This was happening. She took off and Oriha and Sukaime were right behind her. She glanced back and saw that Madoka, and even Kaie, had decided to follow as well. Good, it was about time Madoka saw her terminate another sekirei again. It had been too long since the last time.

It didn't take long for them to catch up, though Madoka and Kaie fell a little behind. Being only human, it was no surprise that Madoka had trouble keeping up. It looked like one of the twins had a cellphone to her ear. Benitsubasa didn't want to know where on her whorey little outfit she usually kept the thing.

"Hurry up!" Benitsubasa snapped at Oriha.

"OK, OK!" Oriha shouted back and her chakram flew out, flying in the path of their quarry. The two skidded to a halt. She had them now.

"No more running! Fight and die, or run and die tired," Benitsubasa threatened. The twins linked hands and electricity sparked around them. They'd chosen option number one. Good.

"Don't think this will be easy. We've been hunting sekirei since the beginning; we know what we're doing," Hikari said. "You really think you can't match us?" Her eyes held a more intense look suddenly. They were opportunists who ran at the first sign of trouble, but Benitsubasa knew they were still dangerous. She could see the confidence in their eyes. She felt her own heart racing again and sweat dripping down the side of her face.

What was this feeling? Nerves? She couldn't be nervous now! She couldn't miss this opportunity! She tried to steady herself, but her last few fights began running through her mind. A sekirei that wasn't, and furthermore _couldn't_ be winged had left her bleeding and struggling just to survive. She'd finally recovered only to be toyed with by Musubi. How strong was she? What right did she have to challenge opponents with this much certainty in their eyes? Where was _her_ confidence to come from?

"I get that you seem to have some sort of grudge against them, but there are two of them, so why don't I take one off your hands for a bit?" Benitsubasa shook her head and looked at Sukaime who was speaking. "Hello? Are your ears turned on?"

"Y-yeah," Benitsubasa muttered.

"Look at you! Stuttering! You must be really excited!" Sukaime grinned at her. "Come on! Let's kick some ass!"

"Right," Benitsubasa swallowed. Excited was one way to put it. She shut her eyes. All she could see was herself, lying on the ground, bleeding, broken. What the hell was she even doing here?

"_If you're so sure that you should've been terminated, then you must be really stubborn to still be here."_ Dammit, when had Madoka suddenly become supportive? What had she done to deserve that? But now _that_ was all she could think about. _"You're tough, you'll do better next time." You say you're a failure? Well you're my failure." "You're my, hm... tough girl?"_ She opened her eyes, letting out a long held breath.

"I've got the one on the right." Benitsubasa cracked her knuckles. "This will be fun."

"All right! Then me and Oriha will take the other one!" Sukaime held up her javelin and let it hover over her open palm.

"Please let me help too, they were after me in the first place," Kaie stepped forward. She produced multiple long ribbons or straps of some sort, having two or three in each hand.

"But you're not winged," Madoka spoke worriedly.

"I'll stay back and try to support them, it's the least I can do," Kaie insisted.

"Whatever, just don't get in my way!" Benitsubasa snapped. She was done waiting around. This was it. No more stalling, no more doubt. Just blood and pain, and if it was hers so be it. But she'd be giving it back tenfold.

"Hikari, they're ganging up on us! It's not fair!" Hibiki looked a bit more nervous than her twin.

"Not fair? What do you care about fairness?" Benitsubasa shouted.

"Going after sekirei who haven't been winged? That's twisted. You gave up on having a fair fight. This is punishment!" Even Sukaime was getting serious now. It seemed this was a bit personal for her as well. Benitsubasa figured she could share just this once.

"Get over it." Hikari frowned. She and Hibiki immediately followed that statement by each aiming a hand at Oriha and Sukaime respectively and launching arcs of electricity. Both girls cried out, Oriha trying to block with her chakram but still getting shocked, and Sukaime diving out of the way at the last minute, but getting splashed by shrapnel and sparks. Benitsubasa supposed that's what they got for _talking_ about fighting in the middle of a fight.

She charged the twins, but they could switch their aim a lot faster than she could close the gap between them. She tried to stop, tried to change direction, but she felt her jaw clamp shut. Her first thought was worry that her teeth would shatter, her second thought was contemplating thinking about the fact that electrocution felt weird. Her third thought was that it also really, really, _really _hurt.

She realized that she was lying on the ground, smoke rising off of her body. She'd blacked out for a second. Her heart skipped a beat at that. She'd survived; indeed the pain was already fading. But one mistake and she'd been struck and blacked out. What if that had been it? It would have been over before she knew it. She hated admitting it, but that scared her.

She went to get up, and a moment later felt a hand helping her. Sukaime had made her way over to assist her. She saw that Oriha had also recovered and was harassing the twins with her chakram, though every attack was being deflected. While they were on the defensive though, it gave Benitsubasa time to get up.

"Let's try that again," Sukaime said, taking a deep breath.

"Yeah," Benitsubasa groaned. Most of the pain had subsided, but not all of it. When they directed their attention back to the twins, they saw a man walking down the sidewalk and then towards the battle. Benitsubasa grimaced. Your average pedestrian would have either panicked and run, or done a double take in disbelief. This person had to know about sekirei. It had to have been the ashikabi of the twins.

"What the hell did you call me for? You sounded worried. Looks like everything is fine to me; you don't have a scratch on you," the man said with a smirk. Benitsubasa already hated him. Well, he was an enemy ashikabi so that was a given, but how dare he count her out already? The fight had just started!

"Sorry, they caught us off guard, but it turns out they're nothing special," Hikari replied.

"Then why don't we just hurry up and get rid of them?" He snaked his arms around both of the twins' waists, palms pressed against their exposed stomachs. Was he actually feeling them up in the middle of a fight? He wasn't taking them seriously at all!

"Dammit Seo, you're just being perverted," Hikari complained, cheeks turning red as she avoided his eyes.

"Is that a no?" Seo laughed.

"Fine, go ahead." It was at that moment that Benitsubasa realized he wasn't _just_ feeling them up. Her heart sank when he kissed both of them, taking the chance to grope Hikari's fuller body as he did so. Ignoring, or trying to, how unnecessarily erotic the scene was, she knew the situation was deteriorating quickly. Just what kind of power was their norito about to unleash? Their wings extended and Seo pulled back.

"We are the pledged thunderclap!" Hikari and Hibiki clasped their hands together, their bodies literally glowed bright with electricity. They looked like living Tesla coils. "No disaster will hit our ashikabi!"

"We are so screwed." Sukaime gulped nervously.

"Dodge!" Benitsubasa shouted and began backing away before completely turning tail and running. The last thing she saw was Sukaime trying to follow suit, and then...

_"KAMINARI!"_ Multiple, massive bolts of lightning struck behind her. It was as if a star had formed right behind her, it was so bright. Then the force of it hit.

**. . .**

"Oh my god." Oriha stared agape at the norito. It was massive; terrifying power, ripping apart the ground. She took a shaky step back as she realized that, despite not running headlong at the enemy, she was still way too close. "OH MY-" She was out of range of being hit directly, but a huge wave of dust and debris slammed into her, tossing her off her feet. She felt herself collide with something, but it wasn't the cold, hard, unforgiving asphalt.

"D-dammit," she heard Madoka groan.

"M-Madoka-sama?" Oriha gasped. He'd caught her. Her heart skipped a beat at the realization. It felt so... so... romantic. She hated that they were in the middle of a battle – she wanted to capitalize on this moment.

"You OK?" he asked her.

"I'm fine, th-thanks to you," she responded shyly. The moment she answered she saw his focus shift away from her, scanning the field of battle. She quickly realized he was looking for Benitsubasa and Sukaime. She too decided to look. As the dust cleared, she could make out a prone silhouette not too far off. Another cloud of dust was blown to the side by a gentle breeze, revealing Benitsubasa. She was sitting up, looking a little worse for wear but not badly injured.

By process of elimination, the prone figure had to have been Sukaime, and as the dust continued to settle she was proven right. She wasn't moving.

"No!" Madoka tried to get to his feet, but Oriha grabbed him.

"It's not safe! You can't run out there!" Being a sekirei gave her just enough strength to restrain him, but he was struggling rather hard. With one last tug she was able to pull him back and he stopped trying to fight her. She knew he was panicking. The norito had been a demoralizing display of what their enemy was capable of.

"Th-then... uh..." Madoka's eyes flitted back and forth. She could see him desperately thinking. Suddenly he grabbed her shoulders. "Then help me make it safe." Oriha couldn't think of what he meant, not until she saw how he was staring into her eyes. Her face flushed. He wanted to use her norito again? So soon after the last time? Well, there was no reason not to. In fact, she wanted to.

"OK," she told him. She tried to smile and reassure him, bringing a hand up to caress his cheek. She'd seen how the other ashikabi, Seo, had been with his sekirei when he'd kissed them. She was glad Madoka wasn't like that. She wished he'd be more affectionate, but what she'd just witnessed had been too much. There was nothing romantic about that.

"Well, that's one down, let's just pick off the bubble gum flavored one and then find the last one," Hikari said.

"Um, I found her... I th-" Hibiki began to speak, but the moment Hikari saw them, she exploded.

"What the hell! How did we miss that badly?" Hikari shouted. "Stop them!"

Oriha would have smirked, but she needed her lips. They pressed up against Madoka's. She'd never get enough of that feeling. It filled her up, made her feel invincible. She didn't want it to end, but he needed her, so she pulled back. She turned and faced off against the twins who'd dared come after her ashikabi.

"These flying gears represent my pledge! Cut away the enemies before my ashikabi!" Oriha chanted. _"Zangetsu no Mai!"_ Her chakram all flew out, dozens of them taking formation as a pair of huge, bladed wheels.

She directed the wheels at the twins. She enjoyed a certain satisfaction as she saw lightning splash harmlessly against her chakram. The twins had to jump aside as the first wheel buzzed past, forcing them apart. They weren't so lucky the second time. Hibiki was closer and so she had the second wheel go after her. She couldn't move fast enough this time, and the second wheel sliced into her shoulder throwing her off her feet as it did so.

The two wheels split apart into individual chakram, some disappearing now that the norito was over, that flew back to Oriha.

"OK, go. I'll make sure it stays safe," Oriha told Madoka.

"Thank you," Madoka told her and then quickly ran over to Sukaime.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa couldn't hear. She couldn't see. She could barely feel. That last one might have been a blessing. The attack had been loud and shook her to her core. She realized she wasn't breathing. Her lungs started burning. She coughed and gasped, sucking in air as her body began to start working properly again. She forced herself to sit up and opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry, and her ears started to ring, but at least she was still alive. Even if her vision was at one-hundred-percent, it wouldn't matter. There was so much dust in the air. The hanging dust cloud was working in her favor for the moment though. If she were to be attacked right now it would be all over. She still needed to catch her breath.

Even as that thought went through her head, she could see the dust cloud thinning. She could see faint shadows outlining where the twins were standing. She rubbed her eyes, her vision finally clearing along with the dust. She looked around and saw where Sukaime had ended up – in a heap and totally still. Had she been terminated? Benitsubasa scoffed, in the end she was stronger than the obnoxious girl. She found surprisingly little joy in that fact. It didn't matter, Sukaime wasn't worth being concerned about one way or the other. It was a thorn she was glad to have out of her side.

She wondered what had become of Oriha.

"Well, that's one down, let's just pick off the bubble gum flavored one and then find the last one." Benitsubasa froze. She didn't have time to look for Oriha. She tried to get to her feet, but there was no way she'd be able to dodge an attack in time.

"Um, I found her... I th-" Benitsubasa heard Hibiki try to speak. Hikari had a fit though.

"What the hell! How did we miss that badly!" Hikari shouted. "Stop them!" Benitsubasa felt relieved for a moment. They weren't targeting her. Wait, stop what? She followed Hikari's enraged gaze, finally locating Oriha. She was with Madoka. They were kissing. Now it was her turn to be enraged. Oriha's norito was not the solution to all of their problems! And yet this would be the second time it had saved her life in as many weeks.

She watched as Oriha's norito forced the twins apart and injured Hibiki. And of course the moment the norito ended Madoka took of running towards Sukaime. It was too late to worry about her! Benitsubasa deserved the attention, she'd survived! Isn't that why he liked her, because she was tough? Why was she being ignored?

**. . .**

Madoka reached Sukaime's side. His heart was hammering, he felt out of breath, and he'd just been standing there the whole time. Seeing Sukaime lying motionless on the ground had him in a full panic. What was he supposed to do? He'd seen sekirei terminated before, there wasn't anything he could do.

He pulled her into his arms, looking for any sign of life. Her eyes were closed and she didn't seem to be breathing. His knuckles went white as he gripped her. He'd stood there and watched. They'd told him again and again that he had a job to do as an ashikabi, and he kept failing... and now...

He nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of loud coughing. He realized it was coming from right in front of him.

"Madoka-kun... I'm sure you're real worried... but you're hurting me..."

"Sukaime?" He couldn't believe it, but she seemed to be back from the grave.

"Idiot, if I'd been terminated my seal would be gone." She cracked an eye open. "You didn't even check did you?"

"N-no," he admitted. Well, this was embarrassing.

"Seriously though, you're going to break my arm," she reminded him.

"Sorry!" He quickly loosened his grip on her.

"Good, now listen." Sukaime reached up and gently grabbed his chin to hold his attention. She glanced towards where the twins were. So far Oriha had been doing a respectable job of keeping them on the defensive. "Oriha can't keep that up forever. They'll find a way to get back together soon enough and then Oriha won't be able to hold them off. I'm not feeling so hot, so I need your help," she explained upon looking back at him.

"O-OK, what?" What was he supposed to do? He sincerely hoped he wasn't expected to fight.

"First, get me my thingy," she told him.

"Your what?"

"My weapon, javelin, spinny-death-stabber, whatever you want to call it! Go fetch!" she ordered him and let go of his face. He nodded rapidly and lay her back down. A quick scan of the area allowed him to locate her fallen javelin. Fortunately it wasn't far away, so a quick jog allowed him to get to it and return to Sukaime.

"OK, now what?" he asked.

"Now you get to do two things. One, you're officially my chair. Hold me up so I can aim. Two, tell Benitsubasa to attack after I do. She'll listen to you better," she listed out her expectations. He figured she knew better than he did about these things, so he might as well listen.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa couldn't believe it. Sukaime hadn't been terminated. She had no idea what to think about that. Though of course she knew Madoka would probably baby her for the rest of the week, and Sukaime would certainly milk that for all it was worth. The more she'd thought about it, the more she'd been anticipating having Madoka more to herself. There still would have been Oriha, but Benitsubasa wasn't especially concerned with her.

It didn't matter now though. Sukaime was still around. Furthermore, Sukaime was attacking again. Hibiki and Hikari had been steadily struggling to get back together so they could combine their powers. They were considerably weaker apart, though not helpless as Oriha had been unable to hurt either of them since her norito had ended. Fortunately, Sukaime's renewed attack had been able to keep the twins apart once again.

"Benitsubasa!" Madoka called out to her. She almost ignored him. Kissing Oriha and worrying over Sukaime... he'd left her for last. She groaned, she was unable to resist. It was finally her turn, and she couldn't pass it up. She looked to him, anxiously awaiting his next words. "Go, now!" He almost frantically motioned for her to attack.

That was it? He hadn't even asked if she was OK! She'd been hurt too! She clenched her fists. Oh, she'd attack all right, but only because she needed an outlet. Only because in the end this was her fight. She wanted her revenge. She nodded tersely and turned towards Hikari. She was the closest.

Hikari was off balance due to focusing on dodging. She was wide open. Benitsubasa made a b-line for her, running as fast as she could. She barely made it half-way before she was spotted. She would have kicked herself if she'd been able to stop fast enough, but as it was she was doing her best to slide to a stop so she could dodge. Hikari was already aiming. She had no time.

There was a sharp crack and what resembled ribbons lashed out, wrapping around Hikari. Benitsubasa's head snapped around. It was Kaie finally making good on her offer to help. Benitsubasa swore if she got saved one more time, she was going to just terminate herself and get it over with. She was actually a little glad when Hikari's body lit up, lightning coursing out and down Kaie's ribbons to their owner, bringing Kaie to her knees. Hikari then quickly got to shrugging the ribbons off now that they'd gone slack.

It was all the time Benitsubasa needed to finally close the gap. All that pain, all that trouble, and she was finally, finally throwing her first punch. Hikari blocked it. Benitsubasa's fist collided with an electric barrier between her fist and Hikari's palm. She wanted to scream, she was so frustrated. Why couldn't she just hit these bitches?

To her dismay, she did scream. Hikari's hand clamped down on Benitsubasa's fist and electricity began to course into her body. She couldn't keep herself from crying out. She couldn't keep herself from doing anything. She feared that at any moment she might bite her own tongue off. She felt herself slowly sinking to a knee. She was growing weaker and weaker as the pain and burning grew worse with every passing second.

Soon she'd be brought to her knees. She'd fall. She'd be done. Hikari would finish what had been started all those weeks ago. She'd escaped only to run right back to defeat. That was unacceptable.

One more inch. One more inch and her knee would touch the ground. She fought it, fought to control her own body. It stopped. She needed more. It had taken so much just to keep herself from kneeling, and she had to continue to fight it. The agony was unrelenting no matter how much she struggled. This had to end now. She demanded of herself everything she had. She pushed back, pulled her other fist back, and surged forward with every ounce of strength she could muster. Where her strength lacked she fueled herself with pure hate.

The pain began to subside. She realized the electrocution had stopped. She'd managed to ram her fist into Hikari's gut, leaving the other sekirei doubled over with a stunned and pained look on her face. Already she could feel her strength coming back. She swung out with a loose uppercut, her fist colliding with Hikari's chin and throwing her off her feet. Benitsubasa nearly lost her footing, her legs still wobbling from the punishment she'd taken.

She caught herself and her hands fell to her knees to support herself. She panted, just trying to breathe within the moment she'd bought for herself. She could see holes in the leggings of her shorts where the tight material had begun to pull apart from the abuse. She saw Hikari begin to get back to her feet; she had no more time to rest.

She had to attack, but she couldn't risk a counter-attack. Everything had to go perfectly. She needed to be at her best, but she was struggling just to breathe. This felt familiar. In her very first fight she'd been in an even more pitiful state, but Madoka had saved her. She'd come back and fought with everything she had and won. She'd barely even been able to walk away, but up until the moment of victory she hadn't let her injuries hold her down.

This time she'd show Madoka she was strong all on her own. This was her fight now. Just her and Hikari.

Hikari got to her feet, ready to fight back, but Benitsubasa was already attacking her. She ducked low, forcing Hikari to alter her aim, but it would be too late. She kicked out, trying to sweep out Hikari's legs. Hikari jumped over the attack, hopping back and away. Benitsubasa didn't let that discourage her. She pulled her leg back in and pushed forward, slamming her palms into Hikari's stomach.

"SHREDDER!" Benitsubasa shouted. The same concussive force that had scored a glancing blow against Akitsu now tore directly into Hikari. The straps that wrapped around Hikari's waist snapped as she was launched off her feet and hurtled back to finally crash to the ground. Somehow her outfit didn't look any more or less indecent than it had before.

She took a step forward, ready to hit her while she was down. She jumped back however when an arc of electricity struck the ground before her. She saw that the culprit was Hibiki, though Oriha and Sukaime's relentless assault had thrown off her aim and she'd earned another cut on her side for her troubles. At the same time though, her recklessness had finally given her a clear path to reunite with Hikari.

"Hikari!" Hibiki called out and finally made it to her twin's side and helped her up.

One thing Benitsubasa had learned in her fights was that everything mattered. One minute could comprise an entire battle, one second could change the course of a battle, and a half-second could be the difference between winning or losing. The brief moment that Hikari and Hibiki took to look into each others eyes as in relief at being reunited was it. That was all she needed.

She saw her moment and took it. She ran and jumped, tucking her knees close to her chest as she flew through the small gap between the twins, sailing over their arms and tightly held hands. That was fine, they could hold hands all they wanted. She had them, both of them. As she flew past her hands clamped down on both of their faces, carrying them with her as her momentum turned from forward to downward. She could feel the electricity in their bodies travel into her, but it didn't matter. She slammed both of their heads into the ground before she too hit the ground, but rolled safely to a knee.

She stood and tried to shake the tingling and numbness from her hands as she turned to face the fallen twins. She had to face both of them now, but she wasn't scared anymore. With every hit she landed, with everything she did _right_ she felt stronger, more alive. Her heart was racing with excitement now. This was _her _fight. Her fight to win.

Her body felt light as she rushed at them, taking aim first at Hikari. The twins had just gotten to their feet, but they wouldn't be standing for long. She punched Hikari in the gut, and then kneed her in the same place, leaving her gasping for air. She then spun around and brought a back-fist across Hibiki's face, and followed that with a left hook. She continued her violent flurry of attacks by continuing her circular momentum and roundhouse kicked Hikari in the face, then scooting back and jamming her elbow into Hibiki's stomach.

As Hibiki doubled over, it gave her the perfect opportunity to grab her arm, turn, and throw her over her shoulder. That gave her some breathing room to work with Hikari. She turned and sent a kick straight into Hikari's stomach, then spun around for another roundhouse to the face and then made it a trio with a final push-kick to take her off her feet. Instead of continuing her assault, she turned and caught Oriha's eye.

"Watch that one for me," she told her, and pointed to Hibiki. Then she turned her attention back to Hikari. The lightning sekirei was bleeding and battered at this point, but still making a weak effort to stand back up. Benitsubasa stormed over and kicked her in the face as she tried to look up and defend herself.

Benitsubasa sneered and reached down, grabbing her hair and yanking her up. She grabbed Hikari's jaw and forced the other sekirei to look at her, their faces only an inch apart. She could feel Hikari's shallow breaths against her cheeks.

"Do you remember me now?" Benitsubasa growled, her eyes blazing. She didn't wait for an answer. She took Hikari's face in her hand and then rammed her head down into a meteoric collision with the ground. She pulled her hand away to unveil a face frozen in shock. She kicked her side lightly, flipping her over to reveal her back and watched as her seal faded away.

Benitsubasa stood there, looking down at her defeated opponent. She shut her eyes for a moment and let it sink in, just breathing. It had been too long since she'd felt like this. Superior. She could do this. But she couldn't wait any longer. The fight wasn't over. There was still Hibiki to deal with.

Eyes once more open, she began making her way towards her. She found her staring past her at Hikari, tears brimming in her eyes. She already looked defeated. Oriha's chakram that had been caging her in, leaving her helpless to protect her twin flew away as Benitsubasa approached. Hibiki seemed to snap out of her grief induced trance, a desire for vengeance of her own flashing in her eyes. Benitsubasa was already in motion, stabbing a knife-hand into Hibiki's throat, causing the girl to gag.

Hibiki instinctively reached for her throat and Benitsubasa took advantage of that. She grabbed Hibiki's throat in an iron grip, trapping her hands as she did so. She began walking, dragging Hibiki with her. She reached her destination at the side of the street and threw her against a wall. Before her victim could react, she slammed a fist into her gut, doubling her over.

Benitsubasa almost gently took one finger and caught Hibiki's chin. She lifted it up until she was looking into her eyes. She then punched her in the face. First with her right, then her left, again and again until her fingers dripped with blood and Hibiki's eyes were glazed over and blank. If she just left her there she'd soon collapse and fade. She was impatient though. She cocked her right fist back and then with one last swing brutalized Hibiki, throwing her to the ground. Her seal faded away.

It was over. She would walk away – the twins would not.

**. . .**

"I..." Madoka felt like he'd forgotten the rest of the words he knew. He knew Benitsubasa had a mean streak, but she'd just unleashed a hellish fury that he had never seen before.

"Yep," Sukaime said. Yep indeed. "And she's _alll_ yours!" Indeed. "Now, I'm just going to take a nap. Come get me when it's time to go home." Sukaime shut her eyes and Madoka lowered her down. He heard footsteps behind him and looked up to see Kaie limping towards him.

"I-I'm sorry I couldn't help more," she mumbled weakly. He quickly jumped up to steady her. "I tried, but... they were after me and I couldn't even-"

"Forget about it. It turned out well enough." Madoka put a hand on her shoulder. "Look, if you're really feeling bad about it, just keep an eye on Sukaime for me and we're even," he told her and she nodded. With that taken care of, he turned to make his way over to Benitsubasa. She was just standing there, staring down at Hibiki's motionless form. He couldn't make out her facial expression from where he was though.

He got about halfway before out of the corner of his eye he saw the other ashikabi, Seo, heading right for him. He turned to face the man and then immediately was struck in the face. He stumbled back, clutching his now aching jaw. What the fuck? Wasn't the fighting supposed to be between sekirei only? The man didn't seem to be done and Madoka didn't feel like sitting there and getting his ass kicked. Before Seo could hit him again he whipped around and gave it right back to the man. He couldn't remember the last time he'd hit someone. He'd thrown a few shoplifters out, but he'd never really hit them. He vaguely remembered that it was inadvisable to hit someone in the face. He now knew why. He might have broken a finger.

He groaned loudly and clutched his hand, but at least he'd knocked Seo off his feet.

"Bastard," Seo grunted. Said the man who'd sucker punched him and sent his sekirei after other sekirei who hadn't even been winged. Madoka was ready to ignore him, but the man was back on his feet startlingly fast. Madoka was hit in the gut, the wind totally knocked out of him. His will to fight back was gone. That had hurt. How the hell did his sekirei take that and then get back up for more?

Seo grabbed the collar of his shirt, holding him while he lined up another punch. Madoka winced, trying to brace himself. He wondered if he'd stay conscious, but the punch didn't land. A gloved hand that he immediately recognized had caught it. Seo's wrist was twisted until the man gasped in pain and let go of Madoka.

"Keep your fucking hands off of my ashikabi," Benitsubasa hissed icily. She twisted his wrist even more, bringing Seo to his knees. "Get out of my sight." She let go, but then kicked him, sending him sliding across the ground. He was lucky he was wearing a jacket or he'd have been down one layer of skin off his back.

"D-don't you think that was a bit much?" Madoka asked, his voice strained from the pain in his stomach. He did his best to suck it up and act normal, but Seo had a hell of a punch.

"He hit you! I can't forgive anyone who hurts you!" Benitsubasa shouted.

"_You_ hit me." Madoka crossed his arms. He saw her wince. "And if you can't forgive yourself, don't worry. I do." He patted her on the head, making her blush in embarrassment. She suddenly lurched forward, grabbing his shirt and burying her face in his chest.

"I won," she said. "I won, you saw me win!" It wasn't a question but a statement.

"Yeah, that was pretty intense," he replied awkwardly. He had no idea how to react. He could feel her trembling against him. She was taking rapid, deep breaths, borderline hyperventilating. Finally, with one last breath, she slowly pulled away. "Ready to go home?" He could hear the helicopters in the distance, so there was no reason to wait around.

"Yeah." She nodded, a rare smile gracing her lips. He threw an arm around her shoulders. "Wh-wha-?"

"I'm helping you walk. Just in case."

"I'm not that weak anymore!" she complained.

"Fair enough." He began to pull his arm away. No need to humiliate her after her big win. She caught his arm though.

"Th-that doesn't mean I don't... like it," she told him. He raised an eyebrow, but shook his head.

"Oh fine, you earned it." He sighed.

**. . .**

Thanks to Oriha and Kaie, Benitsubasa was able to keep Madoka for the entire walk back. Those two were able to help Sukaime walk, while she got Madoka to herself. As it turned out, Sukaime's injuries weren't that extensive, and her condition slowly improved on the way back. Benitsubasa was a little annoyed by that. The last time she'd needed to be carried back, she'd been practically bed ridden the rest of the week. Though, part of that had been her milking it for all it was worth so she could keep Madoka's bed. She knew she wouldn't get it again and she already missed it.

She changed out of her fried, torn up clothes when she got home and took a hot shower. It felt amazing. She felt amazing. She'd almost forgotten what winning felt like. The fact that it had doubled as revenge made it oh so much sweeter.

She threw on her other outfit, she still hadn't worn her dress, and had no plans to anytime soon in front of Sukaime, and made her way to relax on the couch and take a very long nap. Sukaime limped off to take her turn in the shower, but a minute later she came back snickering.

"What is it now?" Benitsubasa groaned.

"Looky looky!" Sukaime was holding up her shorts.

"Yeah yeah, there's a bunch of holes," Benitsubasa muttered, "I'll get a new pair soon."

"Oh, but you haven't seen the best part!" Sukaime grinned and turned the shorts around so Benitsubasa could see the back side. And the hole... in the back side. Her face turned red from her hairline to her chin. How long had that been there? Who had seen? Had Madoka seen? He probably wouldn't have said anything if he had. Oh god why?

"G-give those back!" Benitsubasa demanded, jumping to her feet.

"I'm kinda sad that I didn't get to see these on you like this!" Sukaime chuckled lecherously. "Why don't you put them on and gimme a twirl?"

"You will not be able to limp fast enough to escape the hell that will rain down if you do not give those back right now," Benitsubasa growled darkly.

"Maybe I should show Mad-" Benitsubasa snapped. No way was that happening. She tackled Sukaime to the ground and ripped the shorts from her grasp.

"Ha!" She grinned victoriously. She was safe! That was when Madoka walked in and saw her. Saw her straddling Sukaime and holding her holey shorts up into the air.

"What the hell?" Madoka stared agape.

"Dammit..." Well, she couldn't win them all.

* * *

><p><strong>Yes. That just happened. <strong>

**(Fixed up in batch four of my edits.)**

**Til' next time!**


	17. I Hate Heroics

**I Hate Heroics**

Everyone had been exhausted, so they'd all gone home and acted like nothing happened. Kaie wasn't one of them, not really, but she'd still gotten hurt. Even Madoka had been hurt by the dirt-bag ashikabi of those twins. Needless to say, no one had been up for much of anything upon arriving home. Aside from some strange scuffle between Benitsubasa and Sukaime, things had been surprisingly sedate.

Being a sekirei, and winged, Oriha had recovered quickly. Her injuries had been the least severe since she'd avoided any direct hits. Consequently, she recovered first and was the most active. Considering she was the cook, that was a good thing. It also meant she had the mental stamina to obsess over a particular occurrence. A recurring occurrence now.

Madoka had kissed her again. She'd almost lost hope. When Madoka had found her, he'd saved her. There had been a spark between them, it was undeniable. He'd kissed her willingly. The flame had seemed to immediately die, though. She'd just about fallen into despair after effectively being abandoned by Madoka, tormented by Sukaime, and abused by Benitsubasa. She'd felt shoved aside and ignored, left on the sidelines like some inconsequential wallflower.

Then, slowly, she'd fought her way back into Madoka's life. She'd cooked for him, encouraged him, then she'd finally proven her worth, even if it had meant saving Benitsubasa. He hadn't forgotten any of it. He always complimented her cooking and she'd noticed an effort, however slight, on his part to be more supportive of them all in battle. He'd even jumped to her aid, wrapping his arms around her to protect her. He'd trusted her power, used her norito to turn the tide of battle, once again saving them all.

That was what concerned her now. Oriha lifted a dainty, porcelain-skinned finger to her lips. What was she to him? Was she just his last resort when he needed her? As much as she pined for him, those feelings were never truly returned. She'd saved herself from being forgotten, but that wasn't enough. She closed her eyes, finger pressed more firmly against her lips, reliving the kiss. He was actually a good kisser, if lacking in passion. And why would there be any? She was only being used for her strength.

It hurt. She had to endure the painful dichotomy of achieving that closeness with him, but without any of the emotion she desired behind it. Her hand dropped away. In the end she could never refuse even that from him. As long as he had use for her, remembered her – she'd not turn away even empty kisses.

**. . .**

Madoka's eyes shot wide. The food was spicier than usual. The flavor hit his tongue like a dozen needles. Needles of undeniable pleasure to go along with the stinging sensation. A stinging sensation that was entirely overpowered by how good the food was.

"Did you do something different tonight? The food tastes more... well... more." He was at a loss for words, that's how good it was. When had he bought ingredients that good? Or was Oriha just magical?

"Oh, um, Miya-san taught me a few things. I decided to put it to use. I-I figured after the fight we'd earned it. She gave some extra stuff she had lying around. N-not much, just a few things I could put in my pockets," Oriha explained timidly. She seemed embarrassed somehow. He didn't know why, she should have been proud of herself. Unfortunately "attacked by sekirei" was not a valid excuse to get out of work, so he'd still been forced to go in. Explaining his bruised face had been a pain. Coming home to this made him feel a lot better though.

"Eh? Pockets? Where the hell do you have pockets on that dress? Or does 'pockets' translate to cleavage? I mean, out of all of us you do have the most." Sukaime bobbed her eyebrows up and down. Apparently Kaie didn't count. Oriha's expression became one of pure horror at the suggestion.

"Leave her alone or I give Benitsubasa your portion," Madoka threatened. When it came to Benitsubasa, one could always safely assume she could eat a little more. Her metabolism was a thing of beauty... and terror for someone like him who subsisted on just above minimum wage.

"Heh. I'll be good." Sukaime giggled innocently.

"Damn," Benitsubasa muttered.

"And there, folks, was a veiled acknowledgment that she too approves of Chef Oriha!" Sukaime announced with a grin. The intensity of her grin was only matched by that of Benitsubasa's glare. Never a dull moment with those two.

**. . .**

The rest of dinner was considerably less interesting by comparison to Sukaime's shameless antagonizing of Oriha. After completing his nightly ritual, which didn't comprise of much, Madoka made his way to bed. He kept his door shut, which didn't accomplish much since it wasn't especially sound-proof and he couldn't lock anyone out. It was better than nothing though. The lack of a lock was becoming painfully apparent though. He was starting to consider investing in a dead-bolt. Though, last time someone had barged in he'd had an important conversation with Oriha, so maybe that was excessive... and probably pointless in the face of a sekirei...

He'd just shut his eyes when he heard his door open and shut. He opened his eyes in time to see Sukaime perform a flying jump onto his bed. She didn't land on him, but he reflexively flinched, causing his bruised abs to contract painfully. With a groan, he slowly relaxed and let out a cough.

"How can you be this animated? You just got blown up yesterday!" he groaned. Sukaime was lying next to him, curled up into a ball, with only her head poking out with a pained and amused grin.

"No, no, it hurt for me too, but if I have to hurt so do you!" she teased. Madoka scowled and pulled his blankets up to his chin.

"Why are you in my bed?" The moment he asked Sukaime she got on her hands and knees and crawled over so she was on top of him before lying down. "Make yourself at home, don't mind me, it's not like you're slowly crushing my lungs or anything." He sighed. Well, she was actually pretty light, but she was currently acting like a paper weight. He couldn't pull his blankets off. He was trapped unless he wanted to be a jerk and kick her onto the floor. In response, she just nuzzled his chest through the blankets. Finally, after an awkward minute of him contemplating various ways to escape, she looked up at him.

"Hm. You know, I was getting worried for a while," she told him.

"Can you be more specific?" He was curious now, forgetting her intrusion upon his personal space for the moment.

"About you. About me. Sure, you managed to wing yourself three whole sekirei, but that doesn't mean much if you don't know what to do with them," she explained with a thoughtful look on her face. She wasn't looking at him anymore. She slid off of him, so that she was just cuddled up next to him, staring at the ceiling. "It was like you were starting to crack. You were doing all sorts of stupid things all at once."

"I hope this is going somewhere," he muttered. He was starting to feel a little self-conscious. She ignored him and kept going.

"I was worrying a lot about how you felt about me. Then things got a little better when you pulled me aside. It really got me thinking about myself."

"The day you disappeared?" he asked. She nodded.

"I figured out that I should just accept you, and I wanted you to accept me too," she said. "I figured out how I felt, but I still didn't know how you felt." Oh crap, she wasn't trying to coerce some sort of confession out of him was she? "I had new things to worry about then." She snuggled her way a bit closer to him, if that was possible. "Not anymore though."

He was caught off guard by that. That suggested she'd already come up with an answer on her own. If she wasn't worried, then it must have been a good one, but...

"I was always worrying about this and that deep down, and all I wanted was to know that you were worrying about me." She smiled at him. "I came home that day, and I knew you'd been fretting. But now I have more than that. You thought I'd been terminated and you were really upset. It's selfish, but that made me really happy." She rested her head against his shoulder. "Can you forgive me, Madoka-kun?" He was stunned silent. He couldn't think of how to answer her. Was this really Sukaime?

"Forgive you?"

"Sukaime is a selfish girl," she said, her voice soft and subdued. "I'm happy because I could make you worry when I should be trying my hardest for you. And when I'm not doing that I bother your other sekirei, and after all that I don't give anything back. S-so, can you forgive Sukaime's selfishness?"

"No."

**. . .**

Sukaime froze. No? She hadn't really thought about it that much. He was actually unable to forgive her? She'd thought it would just be a chance to get some things off her chest, a chance to get closer to him. Were her actions really so unforgivable? Was she that horrible? The prospect of rejection had never occurred to her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered and pulled away. She had no more reason to stay. She wished she'd never said anything, she could have lived in ignorant bliss. How had she missed this? She should have known better, somehow she should have just known.

She felt him grab her arm. What? Was he not done with her? Did he want to tell her why he couldn't forgive her?

"There's nothing to forgive, Sukaime," he said gently. What? She didn't understand. She'd let her thoughts get so carried away; she was confused. "I haven't been perfect either, and you've helped me plenty of times. Hell, you've protected Benitsubasa for me. I probably _owe_ you." She listened, but the words meant nothing to her. She shook her head and jumped off the bed, ignoring the protests of her sore muscles.

"No, I can't even do that right!" She turned around violently, her cool facade completely disintegrated at this point. "She keeps getting hurt and humiliated! You've been relying on Oriha more than me!" She hid her face behind her arms, trying to block the tears that were coming. "Dammit, I'm probably making you worry again! I'm such a loser! I can't do my job right!"

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Madoka sat up, sounding totally bewildered. Her arms dropped away, her eyes turning red already. It was too late to hide anything now. She was falling apart at the seams. What the hell had she gotten herself into?

"Benitsubasa is the strong one, but she's totally insecure. Oriha's cute, but she doesn't feel like she fits in. That's what they are. I'm supposed to be smart, I'm supposed to keep it together. It's my job to make sure everything keeps going smoothly! And now in front of you I can't... I can't even..." She was shaking. She couldn't believe it.

"Your job? Says who?"

"Says me! I stabbed you in the back. Don't you know why Benitsubasa hates me? It's because I tortured her. I didn't just tease her, I did my best to break her and I almost succeeded! It's my job to fix it! I have to fix it and make sure everything stays OK!" Sukaime shouted. "You winged me, saved me, and all I did was attack Benitsubasa!"

"OK." Just like that. OK? She stopped. She just stopped. One minute it was like her head had been on fire and the room was spinning, and then it all just stopped.

"O... OK?" She rubbed her eyes, trying to clear away the blurry tears in them.

"OK. I get it. I forgive you," he said. He looked totally calm. He'd just absorbed everything she'd said and accepted it. She was sure he would have hated her, but instead he forgave her? "Come here." He patted the bed next to him. Tentatively, she took a step forward, and the carefully crawled onto the bed to sit cross-legged next to him, staring down at the rumpled sheets.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because I trust you," he told her. "When it counts, you've never let me down. Benitsubasa, Oriha, maybe they don't, I don't know if they will any time soon, but I do. Like you said, I did a lot of stupid things, and you _are_ smart. So when I'm not around or I'm being an idiot, can I keep trusting you?" She stared at him, jaw hanging totally slack.. She quickly rubbed her face again, trying to regain some level of composure and then nodded rapidly.

"I-I'll try," she said. She'd never felt so relieved. He trusted her? She felt outright unworthy. How had she earned that? She'd done a lot of things that at the time had been amusing, but in retrospect she was absolutely ashamed of.

"Good. Thank you." He patted her on the head. She wanted to purr. However, she had an image to keep up. OK it was too late for that. She had an image to... _restore_. She waited until he pulled his hand away and then, more gently this time, hopped off his bed. With her back to him she did her best to straighten herself out before turning to face him.

"Ah... hm. Well, that was embarrassing," she said, feeling a little more like herself. "Let's keep this to ourselves, shall we, Madoka-kun?"

"But of course." Madoka smiled at her. Yep, she'd definitely picked the right ashikabi. She considered trying to get a kiss from him, but she knew he'd refuse and that would kill the mood. "By the way, things have been less tense lately. Benitsubasa especially has been less tense. Know anything about that?" She loved that he paid attention to things. Of course he'd put two and two together.

"Maybe." A sly smile stretched across her face. "Speaking of her, you should talk to her. You haven't yet, right?"

"No, but she hasn't tried eithe-"

"So? I know you're not the biggest fan of all the fighting, but that battle meant a lot to her. She'll want to talk about it soon, but I'm not sure she'll bring it up herself. Just a little something I observed," she told him. Her heart throbbed for a moment as she knew she was directing his attention to someone else, but this was the burden she'd accepted. He was her ashikabi and he trusted her. Whatever she could make better, she would. She couldn't be selfish anymore, not and live with herself.

"Yeah, OK. Thanks." He nodded.

"Anything for my ashikabi-sama. Good night." Why suddenly bring out the title? Who knew. Maybe she just wanted to acknowledge the fact again.

**. . .**

"Are you OK?" Kaie asked him as they were leaving work. He shook his head, clearing his thoughts aside.

"Yeah, why?" He looked at her.

"You've been quiet all day," she told him. When he thought about it, he supposed he had. He hadn't spoken to Kaie much that day at work. Most in her situation would have kept an awkward silence to spare and bury their feelings. To her credit, she seemed to make an effort _to _talk to him, despite his promise to his sekirei to never wing her.

"Sorry," he forced a smile. He'd been preoccupied. His talk with Sukaime was hard to get out of his head. He'd been surprised to see a softer side of her when she'd come home one night after being gone all day. That now seemed almost trivial compared to last night.

She'd completely broken down. Before, she'd had a transcendent air about her. She wasn't perfect, but her spirit had been absolutely unshakable. Slowly, perhaps without him even noticing, he'd built up an image in his mind about her. Seeing her crying, doubting herself, and begging for his forgiveness contradicted everything he'd ever pictured. She felt more human to him now, despite knowing that she most certainly wasn't. Other than that, he still wasn't sure what to make of it all.

"So... everything is OK?" she asked again. Her concern was appreciated, but he'd promised Sukaime to keep quiet about it, so it wasn't something he could talk about. He found he wanted to talk to her though. He had to admit he liked Kaie. She had a number of admirable features, some of which he envied. She was calm and collected, kind and intelligent. Gorgeous.

He had to stop himself. She wasn't his. The entire plan ended with her eventually finding another ashikabi and leaving. Wasn't it dangerous to get attached to her? Worst case scenario involved her potentially becoming an enemy. So, no, when he thought about it, everything _wasn't_ OK. He _didn't_ want to talk about that. There was no use in worrying over it now, though. Whatever would happen would happen.

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry," he assured her to the best of his ability.

"That's good," she said. Suddenly, though, she froze, looking worried. Oh god what now? He kept telling himself he would, but he _still _hadn't found a new way home. He swore to god he was cursed. No, more like he had a routine that was _painfully _easy to figure out. However, following Kaie's gaze he immediately calmed down. He could understand why Kaie was worried though. It was Minato and Musubi. Kaie hadn't personally met them yet and her situation was a little more awkward being that she wasn't winged. Minato probably didn't need to know about her. He felt a little guilty keeping secrets, but then he wasn't _that_ friendly with Minato yet.

"Let me guess," Madoka began as the two approached. "Musubi's idea?" Minato's embarrassed expression immediately confirmed his guess.

"I guess she really enjoyed your visit," Minato explained with a helpless shrug. By that logic, it was easy to deduce why Tsukiumi _wasn't_ there. "Um..." Minato looked at Kaie. Madoka hadn't had to use their "cover story" for a while, and so he stood there like an idiot, fumbling over his words.

"I'm his cousin, Kaie. Nice to meet you," Kaie said, giving a polite bow. As usual, she was perfect.

"Right, yeah. Hey, why don't you go on ahead. I'll see you tomorrow," Madoka said, grateful for her quick thinking. Of course no one needed to know that he'd actually be seeing her later that night.

"No, I didn't mean to interrupt-" Minato began to protest.

"It's fine. I should be getting home. Have fun," Kaie stopped him and quickly headed off.

**. . .**

"How long does it take to clean a stain off of your dress? We're late!" Benitsubasa complained for the fifth time since leaving home.

"You know, you didn't have to wait. In fact, I would have thought you'd want to get a head start on your own so you could have Madoka to yourself," Sukaime countered for Oriha. Benitsubasa opened her mouth to argue, but no words came out. Sukaime was right. Painfully, agonizingly, infuriatingly right. Benitsubasa saw the other girl's grin steadily grow the longer she failed to respond.

"Oh go to hell," she grumbled and started walking faster. "Kaie would have been there anyway!" she shouted. As if on cue, the three saw Kaie, but she was alone. "Oh for fu-"

"Why is she alone?" Oriha asked the obvious question. Kaie didn't look especially upset, so Benitsubasa assumed Madoka was fine wherever he was. Silently agreeing they wanted answers, they quickly jogged to meet the unwinged sekirei. They didn't even have to say a thing once they got close.

"He's with the two that he met with last weekend. I believe you would have met them after you followed him," Kaie told them and then just kept walking. The three sekirei Madoka _had_ winged glanced at each other.

"Two?" Oriha asked. Well, there _had_ been more than two people at Izumo.

"Well, I'm sure one must be Minato. The other is most likely Musubi," Sukaime guessed. Benitsubasa just started walking again. Guess work was pointless. She'd just go and find out for herself. Though, she might have trouble restraining her fists once she got there. She could only stand so much happiness, and Musubi radiated it like the sun did light. A sunny disposition one could say.

And sure enough, with Sukaime and Oriha following her, they soon spotted Musubi in all her ridiculous, shiny glory.

"Oh, Benitsubasa-chan, Sukaime-chan, Oriha-chan!" Musubi spoke up before Benitsubasa could speak. What would she have said? Well she would have demanded some answers, that's for sure. In fact...

"What are they doing here?" Benitsubasa demanded, arms crossed, foot tapping impatiently.

"Well I guess Musubi missed you," Madoka replied. "Now be nice."

"Awww, that's so cute!" Sukaime grinned, not seeming to mind.

"As long as she doesn't call me a doll," Benitsubasa heard Oriha mutter under her breath, though she was forcing a smile for appearance's sake.

"How have you been?" Musubi asked. "It's been a while!"

"It's only been..." Benitsubasa paused and looked down at her hands, counting on her fingers. "Err, three... four! Four days! It's only been four days, that's not that long!" That could have gone better. Her eyes widened and she blushed madly when she caught Madoka staring at her, eyes flitting between her face and her... hands. "What?" she snapped, quickly hiding her hands behind her back.

"N-nothing," Madoka coughed nervously. He glanced away. Wait was he... was he laughing at her? And of course anyone who hadn't noticed now knew _something _had happened since she'd gone and made a scene out of it.

"Um, well, still, it was fun meeting everyone! I wanted to do it again!" Musubi just went ahead and plowed straight through the awkwardness. Well, Benitsubasa supposed even absurdly happy people had their uses.

"Heh, she w-wouldn't take no for an answer," Minato explained. Benitsubasa ignored him. She'd not interacted with him even once, but still he annoyed her. His disposition reeked of him being a doormat. At least Madoka could assert himself when he needed to, even if he tended to do it when making decisions she hated.

"Well, everyone's here, now what?" Madoka asked.

"Let's go eat! Minato-kun can take us to a restaurant!" Musubi said.

"Well, only if you want to," Minato quickly spoke up.

"Keep it up and we might follow you home! Home cooking and now restaurants – so extravagant!" Sukaime swooned.

"We're not strays! What's wrong with _my_ cooking!" Oriha whined.

"Nothing, dear!" Sukaime winked and swatted Oriha on the rear, earning a teary-eyed glared from the dress wearing sekirei.

"Well, Sukaime seems up to it anyway and I guess I don't mind." Madoka shrugged. Benitsubasa resisted face-palming. She'd drawn enough attention to herself and her hands.

"Yay!" Musubi cheered and then began staring at her. Benitsubasa took a step back. The intensity of Musubi's stare was quite disconcerting. It was as if she was saying "be my friend or else." Or else what? Benitsubasa gulped nervously. How was she supposed to get out of this?

"Wah! Come on! Let's live like kings, err, queens!" Sukaime threw an arm around her shoulders.

"I-I don't want to," Benitsubasa muttered. When had this become her decision? Why couldn't they pester Oriha?

"Well, I'm not sure about queens, but I know a good place that serves a lot of grilled foods," Minato said. Grilled? Her mouth started watering. Shit.

"Maybe... just this once," she glanced away from everyone. Grilled was something Madoka's cooking facilities couldn't manage, no matter how good Oriha was.

**. . .**

"Ha! She's a rabbit! Who knew!" Sukaime laughed, kicking her legs wildly. Benitsubasa glared at her, grabbed a piece of beef and tore it in half with her teeth. "Too late, we all saw!" Indeed, Benitsubasa had ordered mostly grilled vegetables with a small portion of beef to go with it.

"Shut it or I'll eat _you!"_ Benitsubasa snarled.

"She probably would." Madoka laughed.

"Ooh, you're making me all shivery talking like that." Sukaime batted her eyelashes. Everyone at the table, save Musubi, stared at her in shock. Musubi apparently didn't get it and settled for laughing, assuming they were still joking.

"Ew." Benitsubasa hunched over her food and resumed eating.

"Oh! There was another reason I wanted to meet everyone again!" Musubi suddenly slammed her palms down on the table startling everyone. "There's a seki-" Minato slammed his palm over her mouth.

"N-not so loud in public, Musubi." He smiled nervously, trying to play it off while other customers glanced at them.

"So, something involving the 'game' I take it?" Madoka said more soberly. Nothing like an unwanted blood sport to bring down one's spirits.

"Yeah, I think I know what she's talking about. Matsu told us that someone is going around attacking other sekirei, terminating them, and then leaving. Whoever it is is hiding their identity and they don't wait for MBI to show up," Minato explained.

"Rules aren't really my thing, but that's just not cool!" Sukaime scowled.

"Me and Tsukiumi are gonna go look for her tomorrow!" Musubi announced, looking excited.

"Um, w-were you going to tell me about this?" Minato asked, apparently not aware of the plan.

"I just did!" Musubi smiled innocently. "But until we find her, you should be careful!" she said to the rest of them.

"I can take care of myself!" Benitsubasa frowned, tearing back into her food like she was trying to kill it. It didn't stand a chance... since it was already dead.

"Bring it! One cheating jerk against all of us? No contest!" Sukaime nodded confidently. ". . ." She glanced over at Oriha. "Ahem?"

"Huh? Fhwat?" Oriha asked, mouth full. It hadn't taken her long to go from offended that they'd go elsewhere to eat, to eating like she was starving. It would seem she loved food, whether she was cooking it or eating it. Fortunately, she didn't love to eat it quite so much as Benitsubasa did.

"Never mind." Sukaime rolled her eyes. Oriha swallowed.

"Um, go team?"

"Too late, you killed it." Sukaime shook her head. Oriha pouted and hung her head in defeat. Musubi was sitting close enough that she was able to reach out and give her a consoling pat on the head.

**. . .**

"You are just too cute Musubi. You're such a warm, cuddly person!" Sukaime exclaimed. She and the exceptionally cheerful girl had been babbling back and forth about this and that for the last ten minutes at least since the food had dried up.

"Aw, thank you!" Musubi chirped, seeming quite happy to receive the compliment.

"I wish we had someone like you around!" Sukaime sighed dramatically. "Instead I'm usually stuck with... that." She glanced at Benitsubasa with a frown.

"This. This is why no one likes you." Benitsubasa said deadpan.

"I like her!" Musubi smiled, totally oblivious to the less than pleasant undertones of the conversation.

"You like _everyone_," Benitsubasa grumbled, exasperation showing on her face.

"Well, I like _you!_" Musubi admitted, reaching across the table and grabbing her hands. Benitsubasa would have recoiled, but Musubi's gentle, but incredibly firm, grip didn't let her. "We're friends aren't we?"

"F-friends?" Benitsubasa's expression was one of stupefaction. How could this girl consider her a friend? It made no sense. If it wasn't for their ashikabi deciding to coexist, Benitsubasa would have happily terminated her and put another notch on her proverbial belt! One of the few times they'd interacted was their fight and Benitsubasa had come away from that with nothing but hatred for the other girl. It had been humiliating! She finally yanked her hands away. "Of course we're not! D-don't be stupid! I don't even know you!" She looked away and shut her eyes while she tried to calm herself.

The ensuing silence was maddening, so before long she had to crack an eye open to see what was going on. She saw Musubi looking defeated, staring at the table. Minato had a hand on her shoulder. Madoka seemed less than impressed, though she couldn't say he looked surprised. He knew her by now, so why would he? Why should anyone be surprised? Musubi had stuck her hand in a bear-trap and this was what she got for it. That said...

"You're right." Musubi lifted her head and looked her in the eyes. "So let's get to know each other!" She smiled. Benitsubasa's eyes felt fit to burst out of her head. How much of a naïve, stupid, childish, _moron_ was she? "I liked fighting you! I want a re-match someday, as friends!" Benitsubasa tried to respond, but she was so dumbstruck with awe at Musubi's bold proposition that she could only manage a chocked, stuttering sound.

"Ah. Careful, you're going to catch flies." Sukaime reached over and shut Benitsubasa's jaw for her. "Oh, and you might want to wipe off the drool..." Benitsubasa quickly grabbed a napkin, only to realize there was no drool. She'd been played... _again_. At least she wasn't sitting there like a total fool anymore.

"No way! What's the point? We're enemies! Our ashikabi are the only thing stopping me from doing something about it! I don't make friends with anyone – it's pointless! If you know what's good for you, you'll forget those stupid ideas right now!" She ranted at the dumb girl. This time she definitely struck a chord. Even Madoka looked totally caught off guard. "Hmph. I'll be waiting outside." She forced her way past Sukaime and Oriha and stormed out of the restaurant.

**. . .**

Well, in the end that had been a disaster. Madoka was once again mortified and ashamed thanks to Benitsubasa. The moment they got home, he grabbed her arm and dragged her into the living room. She struggled, but that didn't concern him. If she really wanted to, she could get away. He glanced back to make sure that Oriha and Sukaime stayed out in the hall, and indeed they seemed to know well enough not to follow. With that, he turned his focus fully onto Benitsubasa and let her go.

"Sit," he ordered.

"Why? I know what you're going to say, I don't want to deal with it," she muttered dimly, avoiding his eyes.

"Sit!" She flinched this time and obeyed, sitting on the couch while he stared down at her, hands on his hips. "So, what am I going to say?"

"You're mad about what I said, I get it."

"Then why do you keep doing this? I've seen you control yourself before. Why can't you manage just a _little _consistency?" He leaned over, trying to get her to look at him, but she just turned her head farther away. He couldn't tell if she was being stubborn or if she was just ashamed.

"Why do you keep expecting me to?" She finally looked at him, but only out of the corner of her eye, and only for a moment.

"Why shouldn't I?" he questioned her. She sighed, though it sounded more like a growl. Now she was looking at him, dead in the eye, and definitely not happy.

"You know I hate playing nice and you keep trying to force me to do it! Just quit it already, you're setting yourself up for disappointment when it all falls through, except I'm the one who's going to have to deal with it!" she yelled.

"Why is that such an inevitability?" he yelled right back. "Because some rich bastard said so? Since when did that matter to you? I can tell you hate him!"

"That doesn't mean there's anything I can do about it! And what happens when _they_ decide it matters to them!" She stood up, panting heavily, her entire body heaving. He took a step back. If he didn't know that she would never hurt him... "Fine, whatever, do what you want. I'll just _die_ or something when it doesn't work out!" She stormed out of the room, not waiting for him to dismiss her. Great, how come he'd ended up feeling like the guilty one? She always made it seem so dramatic and serious.

He felt childish the moment that thought went through his head. Of course it was serious to her. It was her life on the line. She fought to the_ death_ every other time they met another sekirei. He just wished she could see things both ways. He knew it well enough now that not every sekirei and ashikabi they met was going to be friendly, but some could be reasonable. He didn't necessarily want her to act like Musubi, but couldn't she be a little more friendly? He didn't know the right answer. It was all too much and it was giving him a headache.

**. . .**

Madoka was starting to burn out. Coming home from work no longer gave him any semblance of rest. Work didn't count as an escape either. He brought his thoughts with him. First Sukaime and now Benitsubasa. He was constantly fretting, worrying, or borderline obsessing. Kaie knew something was wrong, but she kept a respectful distance and didn't pry. He was almost scared to talk to her anyway. What if their conversation turned problematic? He was starting to get gun shy.

His cellphone went off within moments of him getting home. He was surprised by the number. Minato? Great. He was starting to get sick of the guy already. He was nice, certainly, but he'd seen enough of him recently. He seriously just needed one week. No battles, no dinner invitations, just one boring, normal week to rest. And yet he still answered the damn phone.

"Hello?" he said.

"_Hey uh, this is gonna sound weird, but do you think we can meet up tomorrow? Tomorrow night, any time after five, you can just show up at Izumo. Oh, and could you bring your sekirei?" _Minato wasted no time.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Madoka gestured with his hands even though Minato couldn't see. "Why?"

"_Err, well, I'm hoping to figure that out."_

"I... I don't get it," Madoka admitted.

"_Err, well, I mean I know why, but I still have some details to figure out. I can't really explain well until I do. It'd be better if I could just tell you everything at once and in person."_

"Right, well that's not suspicious at all." Madoka sighed. "Any time after five?"

"_Yeah."_

"No promises, but I'll keep it in mind."

"_OK. Thanks. I hope you show."_

No promises, eh? Yeah, he'd said that before. It had ended with an impromptu backyard spar and a gloomy Benitsubasa. Well, hopefully it would go better this time. Err, that was if he went of course. He didn't like the sound of it. Dammit, he was already considering going. Why did he do this to himself?

He supposed all he had to do was go and listen to whatever the hell Minato had to say, right? He could just leave and forget about it if he didn't like it. He just wondered why Minato was asking him to bring his sekirei. He certainly wouldn't bring it up until after dinner... otherwise he might lose his appetite from all the glaring.

That turned out to be a wise idea. Benitsubasa was not pleased, but that was no surprise. Oriha didn't argue, but she rarely did. Even so, he knew she didn't like it. Sukaime seemed more surprised than anything, but while she didn't seem to hate it she wasn't as enthusiastic as usual. Maybe she also thought it was too soon.

**. . .**

"This had better be good," Benitsubasa grumbled. They were standing outside Izumo. "If this is a trap-"

"You are seriously paranoid," Sukaime told her, hands on her hips. "Besides, you heard Miya-san. No fighting in Izumo!"

"Oh, right, like she can do anything about it!"

"Let's just get this over with. For once even I'm not super thrilled about this," Madoka admitted. Benitsubasa was glad to hear that, but it was too late for her to forgive him for going there in the first place. And yet she was there, so what did that even matter?

They made their way to the door and knocked and were first greeted by the sound of rapid footsteps. The door was flung open and no one was surprised to see it was Musubi who had decided to open the door with such enthusiasm.

"I knew it!" Musubi smiled warmly. "You're all here!"

"Yeah yeah, now when are you going to tell us why?" Benitsubasa scowled sternly, eager to get this over with. She was pleased to see that Musubi sobered immediately and started pouting. Apparently she hadn't forgotten how Benitsubasa had flatly rejected her friendship. _"That's right, turn that smile upside down!"_ OK, so it didn't rhyme like the more cliché version of the saying did, but whatever.

"Um, come in," Musubi cleared her throat, trying to look more upbeat as she led them inside. They were brought to the dining room where there were a number of familiar faces comprising of Minato's sekirei and Miya. Uzume wasn't present, but two less familiar faces were. In fact, Benitsubasa had no idea who they were. She assumed one, a rather plain looking boy, was an ashikabi and that the girl, also rather plain looking, was his sekirei.

The boy wore jeans, a shirt, and a short-sleeved button down over it. He had brown hair and green eyes. He was rather short. She was nearly as tall as him. The girl was even shorter, with short, blonde hair, and her body was not especially curvaceous. Her outfit was a simple, light-blue pleated skirt and a similarly colored tunic with a yellow hem. The only part of her that stood out was the collar of her top that had two triangular offshoots that hung down past her chest. Other than that her clothing looked perfectly civilian.

"Wow, no wonder you get along with Minato," Benitsubasa stared pointedly at Madoka who gave her a mock laugh and rolled his eyes. It seemed he wasn't the only one making friends with other ashikabi.

"Oh good, you're here," Minato said upon seeing them. "Haruka-san, this is who I mentioned."

"Err, hi. I'm Keisui, Madoka," Madoka introduced himself, looking a little caught off guard.

"Haruka, Shigi," the newcomer nodded. "So, he can help?" Shigi glanced at Minato. Minato's eyes widened, clearly not prepared to answer that question.

"Umm, well." Minato chuckled nervously. Benitsubasa pursed her lips. Help? Help with what? What were they about to be asked to do?

"Sahashi-san..." Madoka said with a strained smile. She could see his knuckles already going white as he clenched his fists. It was painfully obvious this wasn't a social call. "Please explain."

"Ahaha, right, yeah." Minato gulped. "Haruka-san and his sekirei want to leave the city, but, um, w-well..."

"Mina-tan, allow me." Matsu stood up and straightened her glasses. Minato looked rather relieved. "As you may or may not know, the city is entirely closed off. No one can leave or enter without facing scrutiny. For the average citizen this isn't an issue, but sekirei and ashikabi cannot leave," Matsu told them. Benitsubasa wasn't surprised. It seemed like something MBI would do. "Now, of course an ashikabi with sufficiently strong, or simply numerous, sekirei could probably force an escape, but there is one other obstacle. MBI has a disciplinary squad of sekirei who will be sent should their usual forces fail. Even I can't think of a way to avoid detection. MBI _will _know if an escape is being attempted. It's simply of matter of being fast enough to avoid the disciplinary squad, or being strong enough to survive if they do appear."

"And you figure you'd ask the guy with three sekirei to help, right?" Madoka asked. Minato nodded.

"I-I know we only just met, but I also know I want to help these two. I have a number of sekirei myself, but only two of them are capable fighters," Minato told him.

"Wow, _only _two. Yeah, that's such a huge disadvantage." Benitsubasa scoffed. Pathetic. "So you want to help a couple of cowards run, but you can't even take responsibility for yourself, never-mind them! They're losers who can't save themselves and you're a loser who needs us to make good on your promises!"

"Whoa..." Sukaime of all people was startled by her rant. Shigi and his sekirei also looked offended. Well, Shigi did. His sekirei was just cowering.

"I-I'm not a loser, I'm Kuno!" she whined.

"Please take that back," Musubi spoke up. Benitsubasa could hear little Kuu making her weird growling noise as well.

"No." Benitsubasa crossed her arms adamantly.

"Take it back, Minato-kun is not a loser!" Musubi actually raised her voice. It was the first time she'd ever looked upset since meeting her.

"It's OK, Musubi." Minato put a hand on her shoulder. "I know it's a lot to ask. I'm going to go through with it either way. It's just I had to ask. It's risky and I'm afraid someone will get hurt. I figured with help it might be safer." Benitsubasa lifted an eyebrow at that. When the hell had Minato grown a spine? He _almost_ sounded sure of himself.

"Right," Madoka groaned. He rested his head in his hand, thinking. Wait, he wasn't considering this seriously, was he? He let out a long sigh. "I guess... I can understand where you're coming from."

"No! No! No! No! No! No! No!" Benitsubasa repeated the word until it began to hurt.

"So I assume you have a plan?" Madoka winced from Benitsubasa's painfully loud complaints.

"Of course, that's why Mina-tan waited to see you until today," Matsu said. "Shintoudeido North Station. Once they've made their way through, it's simply a matter of making it across the rail bridge. We've thought of everything necessary to make it through. You'd just be support in the event of the disciplinary squad's appearance, or any other unexpected obstacles."

"Well, that's good to know. I suppose I'm not totally against it," Madoka said. Benitsubasa's eyes just about burst out of her skull. Conversely, Minato and Musubi looked excited to hear that. "But it's not really up to me. My sekirei would be the ones at risk. It's their decision... and I think we already have Benitsubasa's answer." He glanced at Oriha and Sukaime as he said so.

"I don't like it. I'm not making MBI mad just to help someone else run away," Oriha refused as well. Good, that meant majority ruled. So long as Sukaime also refused there wouldn't be anything to worry about.

**. . .**

Sukaime looked around. At Benitsubasa's vehement refusal to help she'd felt an instant change in the room. Things had certainly felt tense, but that had just been because of the topic. Madoka, none of them actually, had known why they were here. Then Minato had gone and dropped a bombshell on them. The feeling now had more weight. It was crushing, smothering, and choking the life out of her. Between Madoka's uncertainty and Benitsubasa screaming no... Minato and Musubi both looked downtrodden. Sukaime knew they'd been counting on them to say yes. Madoka had seemed like he might go for it regardless and hope had flickered...

And then Oriha had refused. Two out of three sekirei saying no was as good as a total refusal to help. It almost hurt a little, seeing them totally deflate and lose hope. She liked them, she didn't want them to go alone and face who knew what. What if they refused and never saw them again? But... what if that was for the best? What if Benitsubasa was right? Wouldn't even Musubi, for all her smiles and offers of friendship, one day be an enemy? Wouldn't it be easier to part now?

All eyes were on her, waiting to see what she'd say. She knew if she said yes there was a chance she could convince Madoka. If she had Madoka, Oriya would definitely follow. Even Benitsubasa could be swayed if it was him. Just one word, one syllable, and she could give hope back.

"I..." Why was this so hard? She could feel her body trembling. She didn't understand. Her head was rushing. She could feel their eyes on her. "I... I'm sorry," she whispered. She shook her head. Why had she said no? She wanted to help, but her lips wouldn't form the right words. Everything in her was rebelling. Was she really going to run away? But she just stood there. Her trembling had stopped and now she felt... empty.

"Sorry, I guess they're not up to it," Madoka said to Minato. "I can't force them to do something like this."

"No, I understand," Minato forced a smile. "Well, if you're out, I guess that means we'll be going for it pretty soon. No point in waiting any longer."

"You mean... tonight?" Madoka asked, looking surprised. Maybe he'd thought he'd have time to change his mind if he felt too guilty.

"Yeah. We might have delayed if you'd needed us to, but if you're not going there's no need to risk MBI catching on somehow." Minato nodded.

"Oh, well, good luck. We won't hold you up," Madoka said, shifting his weight anxiously. He looked like like a caged animal, desperate to escape. Sukaime could empathize. She could barely stand to have them look at her.

"Thanks."

**. . .**

It was dark. Stars were in the sky shining brightly. It was a clear night with a moon illuminating things so well the street lights were hardly necessary. It was so perfect. Sukaime felt like the world was mocking her. Everything was calm, clear, and perfect. A bright sky fit for a lovely evening. Yet on that evening people she could have called friends might be dying.

What was wrong with her? She'd refused, stayed silent, and now was halfway home where she'd lay down and sleep as usual, like nothing had ever happened. Her feet stopped. She was breathing heavily, heart beating at the walls of her chest.

"Huh? Sukaime?" Madoka finally noticed she'd stopped after nearly going around a street corner without her.

"Wh-what are we doing?" she asked.

"Umm, going home?" Madoka blinked, confused.

"Why?" Sukaime stared him in the eye, pleading for a good answer.

"Well, you said you didn't want to help."

"I-I changed my mind! This isn't right! You're the one who's always going on about friends and pissing us off! Why the one time it matters are you giving in to us?" Sukaime shouted at him.

"I-I..."

"No! We should go! I want to go help!" she insisted.

"No."

"N-no?" Somehow she hadn't seen that coming.

"I don't suppose anyone else has changed their minds?" Madoka asked. Oriha and Benitsubasa shook their heads. "And I'm not going to force the issue, and I'm not letting you go alone. We're going home. I made my decision." She knew he didn't necessarily like it either, but dammit he was stubborn! What had happened to trusting her? Is this how far his trust went? Or... had he simply meant he trusted her to obey him? If so, that hurt.

"Fine..." She dragged her feet the rest of the way home and slumped against the wall in the entry hallway. She was doing it again, barely holding together. She couldn't believe she almost missed the days when she just didn't care that much. Opening herself up was becoming beyond troublesome. There had to be a way around this! She was supposed to be smart!

She looked up as she saw Benitsubasa walking by, looking ready to raid the kitchen cabinets. She suddenly had an idea. She hated herself for it, but if it worked she'd forgive herself. The alternative would be harder to live with.

"So why'd you say no?" Sukaime asked. Benitsubasa stopped.

"Because I'm not a wishy-washy bitch like you," Benitsubasa muttered, ready to ignore her.

"I thought you liked fighting," Sukaime commented, acting unconcerned.

"I fight when I want to, not when someone else needs me to."

"What if Madoka-kun needed you to?"

"That's totally different!" Good, she had her attention.

"I think you're scared." Sukaime glanced over at the angriest of them all.

"Bullshit!" Benitsubasa was definitely on the war-path now. All she needed was to be targeted.

"I think you're too scared to push your luck after barely winning your last fight. After all, a disciplinary squad is a lot scarier than a couple of vultures."

"I'm not scared! It's not my fight! I'm not helping cowards get their way!"

"Really? I thought you'd jump at a chance to prove yourself against some serious opponents." Sukaime felt horrible using Benitsubasa's pride against her. If it worked, she'd be putting her at risk and betraying Madoka. "MBI's personal sekirei squad."

"Oh fuck you! I can beat them just fine, they're just sekirei. Being MBI's whores doesn't make them any tougher!"

"Prove it!"

"I don't need to prove anything to you!"

"Whatever, I was ready to fight them, but if you're not..."

"FUCK!" Benitsubasa was sweating she was so mad. Sukaime knew she'd gotten to her. She just had to pray now that she took the bait. "Fine, if we're going, let's go!" Wait, seriously? Sukaime had to scramble to her feet as Benitsubasa stormed right out the front door. If she was any more heated up she'd be trailing steam. "Where the hell are we even going?"

"Well, unlike you, my poor self was left to wander the cold, cold streets-"

"Do you know or not?"

"Yes." Sukaime sighed. "I may have passed the station once or twice..."

"Then hurry up!"

**. . .**

"Ahahaha! You're seriously all they brought?" the sekirei cackled. Her straight, pale blonde hair was tossed around by the twilight winds. Musubi clutched her side, having been tossed around by her opponent a few times. The disciplinary squad member wore a skin-tight, white catsuit. It had plates of padded armor underneath the shiny material over her triceps, forearms, thighs, and chest. In stark contrast, she had a black jacket of some sort wrapped around her waist, looking like an afterthought. Her sparkling amber eyes glowed with sadism.

"I'm enough!" Musubi said forcefully, not giving in. She surged forward while her opponent was busy gloating and rammed her fist into the blonde sekirei's face, right between her eyes. She didn't budge an inch.

"That had some power behind it, you're actually quite strong. Too bad simple strength means nothing!" The disciplinary sekirei swatted her hand aside and countered with her own punch to Musubi's stomach, sending her bouncing across the tracks to land in a heap. She may have just denounced strength, but her own attacks held crushing force. "My my, you're _still _alive? It's almost a shame to terminate you, you're impressing me!" She took a step forward, like a predator stalking wounded prey. She halted at a noise, like a pebble bouncing off metal.

A blur came from above, striking at the sekirei in white down from the huge, metal support structure on the right side of the bridge. A boot swung into her gut, catching her off guard and tossing her back. Musubi sat up, wondering who it was that had come literally flying to her aid.

"B-Benitsubasa-chan?" Musubi blinked.

"Ugh, I was actually on time? Dammit!" Benitsubasa looked disappointed. "Whatever, now I don't have to listen to Sukaime whine about you being dead! Just stay out of my way. You didn't weaken her or anything did you? I'm taking all the credit!"

"What? Y-you should let me help! She's really strong!" Musubi warned her.

"Good!"

**. . .**

"Huhuhu! You're trembling, you're trembling!" a sekirei said, body hunched over and arms dangling. She struck a terrifying visage. Her fingers each held a long, sharp blade attached to gauntlets that covered her forearms. Even her thumbs were armed. Her gray hair hung messily in her face, just as her tattered top hung haphazardly open, showing that her body was wrapped in bandages. Her top was only held even remotely in place by a pair of belts around her middle. To top off her intimidating appearance she wore a studded collar with a ring dangling in the front. Unfortunately, there was no leash hooked to that ring to keep her in check.

"H-Haruka-sama!" Kuno clung to her ashikabi.

"St-stay back!" Shigi pushed his way in front of his sekirei, holding his arms out protectively.

"That's cute!" the taloned sekirei grinned. Her expression quickly darkened and she sprung forward, clearly having no qualms about attacking an ashikabi. Suddenly, though, an object blocked her path coming down like a meteor to hover; spinning rapidly in place. The disciplinary sekirei's talons struck it and bounced off the rapidly moving surface.

"Just in time!" an excited voice cheered.

"Uh, umm... y-you!" Kuno whimpered.

"My name is Sukaime! Remember it because you're going to be thanking me a lot after this, crybaby!" Sukaime told her.

"I-I'm not a crybaby, I'm Kuno!"

"No, you're dead! All of you!" The taloned sekirei was not amused.

"Number 99, Sukaime! Who are you?" Sukaime questioned.

"104, Haihane. The Blue Sekirei." Sukaime paused. 104? Wasn't Benitsubasa 105? Only one number difference. She was sure it didn't mean anything, but it was interesting. "If you're satisfied, I'll be killing you now."

* * *

><p><strong>CLIFFHANGER! HA! But seriously, you know how my fight scenes get. This chapter would never end if I didn't stop here!<strong>

**(Fixed up in batch four of my edits.)**

**Til' next time!**


	18. I Hate Bridge Clubs

**I Hate Bridge Clubs**

"Dammit, dammit, dammit!" Madoka paced back and for through the long hallway in his house. He was seriously about to burst a blood vessel.

"Madoka-sama!" Oriha stood off to the side, arms outstretched, only able to watch as Madoka fretted. Her pleas for him to calm down were useless as his pacing went on unabated.

"I heard them arguing, but-... dammit!" His fist shot out and slammed against a wall. What should he do? Chase them? He had no idea where to go! Some train station or another. He didn't use the trains, he couldn't even remember the name of the station! He'd assumed it was just Sukaime and Benitsubasa bickering again, fueled by the stress of their refusal to help Minato. Sukaime wanted to while Benitsubasa probably wanted to just kill them herself, and yet for some reason BOTH of them were gone. Despite their differing opinions he couldn't imagine where else they'd be.

What if they fought the disciplinary squad? He wasn't there so they couldn't use their noritos! It was just them and Musubi and maybe Tsukiumi. He had no idea if Tsukiumi was a good fighter, or if their plan would even have her present. And how many sekirei were in the disciplinary squad? Three? Five?

"P-please calm down!" Oriha begged again.

"HOW SHOULD I DO THAT?" he finally snapped at her. Oriha shut her eyes in fear, shrinking back. Madoka felt bad, but he was at his limit. He ran a hand through his hair. What if he did somehow manage to arrive in time? Would Oriha be enough to make the difference this time? He stormed off, pacing again, leaving Oriha trembling where she stood. He'd apologize later when he'd decided what he wanted to do.

He passed by one of the entrances to his kitchen and a hand reached out and stopped him.

"Not now, Kaie!" But her grip was firm, holding him in place.

"You're worried about them, aren't you?" she asked.

"Of course I am!"

"Then go make sure they're OK. What's stopping you?" she told him.

"I don't know where I'm going, I don't know what I'm up against, at least right now I _know_ Oriha is safe!" He clutched at his head. "If I drag her off too, then-"

"She'll follow you and fight her hardest for your sake."

"But-"

"Benitsubasa and Sukaime are no closer to coming home safely if you just wait and wonder." She took his hands, forcing him to look at her. "If you're their ashikabi, you should be there when they're fighting. If you're a good ashikabi, then Oriha won't mind the risk and will fight."

"I... I guess..."

"And if you're still worried, I will too." He felt her grip on his hands tighten.

"Y-you?" Was she suggesting he wing her?

"I'll fight for you too!" Until that moment she'd been calmly but firmly encouraging him, but now there was an edge of desperation in her voice. "I've waited every day, I've done my best to not be a burden, but all this waiting is only making one thing more and more clear. I'm not going to find another ashikabi to wing me. You're my ashikabi! I'll save them. I'll give you my power and I'll make sure they come home!" She buried her face in his chest. He could feel his shirt soaking up her tears. "Just please, accept me, ashikabi-sama!"

He felt lost. She was offering to save Benitsubasa. Save Sukaime. But to save them, he'd have to break his promise he'd made to them. But what was the point of a promise kept to someone who wasn't there anymore? If he rejected her because maybe it made his life easier, then it might just make his life emptier. He didn't have time to keep thinking about things, he had to decide what he was going to do.

He pushed Kaie away from his chest and she looked into his eyes, her own glistening with tears. He could see the trepidation in her as she waited to see how he'd answer her.

"Please... help me..."

**. . .**

Her knees were shaking. He was pushing her away. No, she wanted to stay close to him! She burned for him. Just holding herself against him for a few seconds had made her body hot and weak. Was her anguishing in limbo to continue?

"Please... help me..." She gasped. He was saying yes? He wanted her? No, he wanted her strength, but it didn't matter – the result was the same. He was going to wing her. Her wait was over. Days, weeks, and months of wandering aimlessly were over. She didn't have to live a lie, pretending she was fine when she wanted to collapse at even the slightest touch from Madoka. Just brushing elbows in the hallway was enough to send shivers through her whole body.

"I'll do whatever you need," she told him. She couldn't tear her eyes away from his. She didn't want to. Every moment moved by so slowly. Then she realized he really wasn't moving. She felt a faint giggle escape her lips. He couldn't do it, he was too loyal. He was so worried that he was willing to break his promise to his sekirei, but he was still struggling to commit. It was cute. She knew he couldn't really afford to hesitate any more, though. This was her idea in the end. It was her using his fears to fulfill her own desires.

She'd promised to help him, so she'd start now. She caressed his cheek and gently pulled him closer. He didn't resist. She feared her heart wouldn't hold out until their lips met. Then it happened. Nothing could have prepared her. A wave went through her body, shaking her every fiber. Her wings appeared and then snapped open, a brilliant golden array. She was finally winged and it was fitting. With the sensation she felt, she could have sworn she was flying.

She wanted to stay there, forget the world, and let herself be absorbed into the moment. She was satisfied, she could just die right then. There was one thing stopping her though. In the back of her mind, she couldn't forget why she'd just been winged. She had a purpose and a promise to keep. She'd stolen Madoka's promise from him, but she refused to fail to keep hers. She'd make up for the guilt she was causing him.

She pulled away from him.

"Let's hurry, Madoka-kun." It felt good to finally say his name that way. The way that was reserved for his sekirei. She was his.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa was getting annoyed. She'd gotten a good surprise attack off, but now... the bitch wouldn't stay still! This was frustratingly familiar now that she thought about it. Hadn't it been the same with Musubi? She couldn't just _not_ attack though! The disciplinary sekirei ducked another punch and hopped back.

"Wait wait wait!" the white clad sekirei held a hand out. Out of sheer confusion, Benitsubasa did so.

"Wh-why?" Benitsubasa asked, wondering why she was listening.

"This is a sekirei fight, we should introduce ourselves. I'm number 100, Shinjuryo. I like to go by the 'Pearl Sekirei,'" she said, placing a hand upon her chest for emphasis.

"That's not very imaginative," Benitsubasa said deadpan. Shinjuryo frowned. She'd struck a nerve there.

"You bitch," Shinjuryo hissed under her breath, but then cleared her throat. "So, who are you, hero?"

"I'm not a hero, I'm just here to eliminate you for kicks!" Benitsubasa insisted. Well, it was true.

"Of course, now, are you going to answer me or not?" She was definitely getting impatient.

"Number 105, Benitsubasa. I don't have stupid, corny title to go with my name, sorry." To her disappointment, Shinjuryo didn't react to her insult this time. Instead she burst out laughing. She looked ready to collapse.

"Y-y-you... you're number 105?" she guffawed, clutching her stomach doubled over. "You're the runaway?"

"What's so funny about that?" Benitsubasa demanded. "Dammit, does everyone know about it? Why does it even matter?" she shouted at Shinjuryo. The Pearl Sekirei stood up straight and ran a hand through her hair, grinning.

"You know, I guess it really doesn't anymore. You're here and I'm going to terminate you! Your funny little life ends tonight. I get to write the final chapter and it's going to be written in your blood!" Benitsubasa didn't dignify that with an answer. She charged forward and rammed her fist into the cocky sekirei's gut. The girl doubled over, but something was off. Suddenly Shinjuryo pressed her forehead against Benitsubasa's. She had an insane grin stretching across her face.

"Nice one." Shinjuryo giggled creepily. She pulled away and slammed her own fist into Benitsubasa's face. The blow turned her vision white until she felt the impact of landing. She'd been thrown completely off her feet. She staggered back up to see that her opponent was standing in the same place. She looked like she was just waiting for Benitsubasa to try again. She had no problems obliging.

She closed in and to keep a somewhat safer distance went for a kick instead of a punch. Shinjuryo's arm shot up, blocking it and stopping the kick dead in its tracks. The other sekirei then responded by darting forward and ramming her knee into Benitsubasa's stomach. While she was doubled over from the blow, Shinjuryo lined up a kick, aimed straight up into her chin.

She'd been taken down again. Her opponent was fast, strong, and resilient. Where was she supposed to find a weakness? It would take more than that to make her give up, though! When she did find a weakness, she'd hammer away at it with everything she had! She got up once more, still having plenty of fight left in her. She went for a feint, faking a punch, but then twisting around to drive an elbow into Shinjuryo's neck. She hit, but to her dismay it didn't seem to have any effect. Before she could recover from her surprise, Shinjuryo dropped her own elbow down on her head.

Benitsubasa dropped to her hands and knees, head spinning. She was taking way too many blows to the head and she was getting dizzy now. She felt a sharp pain as her ponytail was grabbed and she was hauled up to her tip-toes.

"What's with this stupid side pony? It's so ridiculous! Here, let me rip it off for you, you might look good with short hair!" Shinjuryo placed her palm on Benitsubasa's face, and then began to pull at her hair. Benitsubasa grit her teeth, refusing to cry out. She wouldn't give her the satisfaction.

"I... like my... hair..." Her words were muffled by Shinjuryo's hand, but while Shinjuryo's hands were full, Benitsubasa's own hands were pressed against her opponent's stomach. "_SHREDDER!_" Through the gaps in Shinjuryo's fingers, Benitsubasa saw the other sekirei's eyes widen. She felt her hair be released as the girl was thrown from her feet into a short arc through the air before she crashed to the ground. Benitsubasa herself fell to a knee, but caught herself before she totally collapsed.

"You know, it's worked out for the best really." Benitsubasa's jaw dropped as Shinjuryo sat up, totally intact and uninjured. "You're way too weak. Not good enough at all."

"H-how?" It had been a perfect hit!

"It's simple. I'm your worst nightmare. You're the perfect prey for someone like me. A terrible match-up for you. You might have done better against Haihane over there, but it's too late now. You're all mine!" Shinjuryo cackled as she got to her feet. Benitsubasa wasn't ready to give up, but she had no ideas left. This girl took all her hits like it was nothing!

"Let me help, Benitsubasa-chan!" Musubi spoke up. Benitsubasa had almost forgotten the girl was there.

"No, this is my fight!" Benitsubasa refused, but Musubi was standing next to her none-the-less.

"You came here to help me, I'm not going to sit there and let you get hurt! We'll do this together! We're friends now, right?"

"Wh-what? Ugh, think what you want, but I'm not here for you!" Benitsubasa yelled. This girl was such a pain!

"Well I think we're friends! Let's fight together!"

"That's adorable. Die together you said? OK, I think I can help you with that!" Shinjuryo was giggling again. Seriously, it was really creepy.

**. . .**

"Shit... shit... dammit... gah!" Sukaime's javelin juked and jabbed, but Haihane had no trouble blocking with her claws. Sukaime couldn't strike fast enough to get past Haihane's defenses. How was she supposed to beat someone whose weapons comprised of both their forearms? She could only attack one spot at a time and all it took was a wave of the hand to stop her!

"What's wrong? You seemed very cocky a moment ago," Haihane taunted. "Are you learning your place now?"

"My place is putting my foot up your ass!" Sukaime shouted, sending her javelin flying at Haihane full tilt. Haihane easily jumped aside while swatting the javelin away to keep it from chasing her down.

"You were saying?" Haihane chuckled. The clawed sekirei had seemed aggravated by Sukaime's arrival at first, but now seemed to be more amused than anything.

"My foot! Your ass!" Sukaime repeated aiming her palm at Haihane. Haihane looked confused, until her eyes widened. Sukaime's javelin had missed, but it had ended up behind Haihane. The Blue Sekirei turned just in time to see it flying at her undefended back. She dodged at the last moment, but the point of the javelin still raked across her side, tearing cloth and spilling blood. "HA!" Sukaime cheered and even gave a little jump in excitement as her javelin returned to her hand.

That was when she saw the unadulterated malice in Haihane's eyes. The injured sekirei immediately charged at Sukaime, no longer bothering playing on the defensive.

"Oh shi-" Sukaime tried to jab her weapon at Haihane at melee range, but talons wrapped around her javelin immobilizing it. The other set of talons wrapped around her throat, lifting her off the ground, her feet dangling helplessly. She choked, unable to even curse out her enemy. Haihane ripped the javelin from her hands and tossed it, leaving it to roll away and drop off the edge of the bridge.

She kicked at Haihane and pulled at her hands, but it was no use. Haihane was bigger and stronger. She couldn't escape with her level of strength. Her eyes widened when Haihane lifted her now empty hand, bladed fingers splayed out. Sukaime knew she had only one chance. She had to recall her weapon and strike while Haihane's hands were busy.

The javelin flew back, up and over the railings, poised for what could be a finishing blow, a turn of the tides.

The talons slashed right across her face and she was thrown to the ground. She lay there, twitching. Her throat was no longer being crushed, but she made much the same choking sounds, now out of shock. She could feel the pain radiating throughout her. Along her face and her chest were long, deep wounds. If Haihane's own hand hadn't gotten in the way, her neck surely would have been torn open. As it was, it didn't make much of a difference. The pain was too much and she couldn't think straight. She couldn't focus on her weapon. She was alive, but she still wouldn't be fighting back.

She felt the blood flowing across her face, tasted it as it poured past her parted lips. The metallic taste made her cough. Pain struck her anew, her convulsions aggravating her injuries.

"What? Not dead yet? You're too stubborn for your own good. My apologies for not making it painless." Sukaime managed to catch the sight of Haihane's sadistic grin out of the corner of her eye. Sukaime didn't even try to respond. Talking would hurt too much after the brutalization her face had taken. "Well, I'll do you a favor and get it right this time."

"_Sorry, Madoka-kun... I was too hasty..."_ Sukaime thought and shut her eyes tightly. She heard a strange noise, the sound of something surging through the air. Haihane's claws coming down on her? She thought it would hurt, but she just felt the same pain from her current injuries. In fact, shouldn't her pain be gone if she was dead? She opened her eyes and turned her head to see what was going on. To her surprise, she saw Haihane sitting on the ground, sputtering, and soaking wet. "The... the hell?"

With great effort she managed to roll onto her back. She had to know what had happened. Why exactly had she been spared the consequences of her failure? She felt less surprised than the culprit looked. A culprit with blonde hair and a skirt that was way too short in the front. And since Sukaime was ground level looking up...

"You're... Tsukiumi?" Sukaime croaked weakly. She hadn't really spoken to her very much, or at all actually.

"What are you doing here? You refused didn't you?" Tsukiumi asked, glaring, though she seemed to have her eyes focused on Haihane at the moment.

"Well, I felt guilty just walking away... so I decided to come anyway," she explained, but broke into another painful coughing fit for her trouble.

"I... I'm ashamed. Another sekirei coming to my ashikabi's aid before me!" Tsukiumi clenched her fists. Wait, had Minato's own sekirei also refused? Sukaime suddenly felt a little better about herself. That said, it looked like Tsukiumi would be doing a whole lot more good than she had been. "That's it! Number nine, Tsukiumi is here!"

"Y-you don't say," Sukaime muttered. She was pretty sure everyone had noticed. Tsukiumi just scowled at her. "Sorry... Err, good luck?" Then again, since it turned out Tsukiumi was a single number, would she even need luck? Maybe Minato wasn't as much of a loser as he looked if he'd bagged a sekirei like her.

"A single number, hmph, that's a little troubling," Haihane spoke as she rose to her feet. "But just think of how impressive it will be when I terminate you! I hope you put up more of a fight than this stick twirler." Oh, so she was a stick twirler now? Bitch.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa couldn't say she was pleased to have Musubi helping her. However, if they got rid of the "Pearl" then maybe she'd feel better. They both launched themselves at Shinjuryo, with Benitsubasa taking the lead. Shinjuryo took a defensive posture, but Benitsubasa put on a last second burst of speed and went in under it. Her fist hit Shinjuryo in the stomach, but as with all her previous attacks it accomplished nothing. The Pearl Sekirei seemed ready to counter attack, but instead looked up just in time for Musubi's fist to collide with her face. It had much the same effect as Benitsubasa's punch... which was to say none what-so-ever.

Shinjuryo swatted Musubi's fist away, but Musubi jumped away before a real hit could land. Benitsubasa also hopped away while their opponent was distracted. She immediately shot back in at a different angle, jabbing quickly at Shinjuryo, but her punches were all blocked by Shinjuryo's palms. Right when it looked that she'd stayed too close for too long, Musubi came in from the side. Shinjuryo leaned her head away from a punch and then blocked Musubi's knee with her own. Benitsubasa thought that she had a clear shot for a kick right at her head, but Shinjuryo ducked.

"That's it, piss off! Both of you!" Shinjuryo must have been becoming frustrated at being unable to fight back. "_IRIDESCENT DROP!_" The Pearl Sekirei's hands crackled and then she dropped to a knee and slammed both of her palms onto the ground. Benitsubasa felt a shock wave hit her and she stumbled back. She felt her teeth buzzing and a bright flash had stolen her vision. She even felt a little nauseous. It hadn't been a crushing blow, but it had reverberated through her leaving her feeling weak even if still on her feet.

"Wh-what was that?" Benitsubasa groaned and clutched her stomach. She hadn't been expecting an answer, but, as her vision became blurry rather than nonexistent, she could see the white clad figure of Shinjuryo before her.

"A little display to show you what you're up against," Shinjuryo told her. "Do you get it yet?"

"Get what?" Benitsubasa grit her teeth, blinking rapidly to clear her vision.

"How hopeless this is for you. How far beneath me you are. How worthless you are as an opponent." Shinjuryo wasn't smiling or giggling anymore. Her expression was one of total condescension. "You're pathetic. This isn't even fun anymore."

"Then go ahead and end it!" Benitsubasa snapped. If she was so weak, then let it end. She'd earned it. Shinjuryo smirked, but then whipped around and shot her foot out. Her kick collided with Musubi's fist. Surprisingly, Musubi held her ground, the two attacks canceling each other out.

"I have you!" Musubi shouted, grabbing Shinjuryo's leg. She was going to throw her.

"So you do!" Shinjuryo twisted her body around. In a remarkable display of flexibility, she snapped her free leg around and struck Musubi in the head, freeing herself. She dropped to all fours, and then leapt up and rounded on Musubi. Musubi was clutching her head, unsteady on her feet. Before she could recover, she took a knee to the gut, doubling over. Shinjuryo then grabbed Musubi's hair and twisted it painfully, holding her steady while she proceeded to repeatedly jam her fist into Musubi's already abused stomach. When she was satisfied, she left Musubi down on her knees, writhing with her arms wrapped around herself.

"Ah, now that that nuisance had been dealt with, where was I?" Shinjuryo turned back towards Benitsubasa. She began walking towards her. Benitsubasa shifted uneasily. What should she do? Her indecision came to bite her when she realized that Shinjuryo was now right in front of her again.

"Oh, screw it!" Benitsubasa lunged forward with a punch. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Shinjuryo caught it without trouble. "AH!" Benitsubasa cried out when her wrist was twisted painfully. She lifted her other fist to throw a punch, but her wrist was tweaked further, almost to the breaking point.

"Over here, please!" At Shinjuryo's mercy, Benitsubasa was forced to trade positions with her. If she tried to struggle, she'd sacrifice her arm. She decided that an arm was better than termination, but another twist left her eyes watering, nearly bringing her to her knees. Then she was released. "Huh?" She realized why a moment later. While she was marveling at her wrist's freedom, Shinjuryo was lining up a kick. Shinjuryo's foot collided with her chest, knocking the wind out of her and sending her airborne.

She half expected to fly over the side of the bridge and be swept away by the river, so a strangely soft landing confused her. She felt arms wrap around her and her momentum was absorbed.

"A-are you OK, Benitsubasa-chan?" Musubi? She'd caught her and even kept her feet doing so.

"I... yeah..." Benitsubasa muttered dazedly. "Err, ugh, you?" she asked reluctantly.

"She's really strong, but I can keep fighting," Musubi assured her. "I think I might have an idea," she said as she put Benitsubasa down.

"What?" she inquired as she took her feet shakily.

"When we attack, nothing happens and then she hits us back even harder. What if we tried doing that and let her attack first?" Musubi suggested. Not exactly an ingenious plan, but it was worth a shot so she nodded in agreement. "Good, I'll go first while you rest for a moment." Rest? Who needed to rest? She looked down at her trembling knees and glared at them until they stopped. Certainly not her.

**. . .**

Watching a single number fight, and not being on the receiving end, was quite a spectacle. Tsukiumi fought with simple water, but she was holding Haihane off. She'd even formed a sword out of water and was facing the previously overpowering Haihane head on – and winning. Slowly, the taloned sekirei was forced to retreat. Tsukiumi hadn't managed a direct hit yet, but then... the entire support structure began to shudder. Tsukiumi's missed attacked had cut clean through the massive I-beams. Half of the bridge looked ready to totally collapse and fall into the water.

"Th-that's it... I just give up..." Sukaime muttered nervously to herself. She was so outclassed it wasn't even funny.

"Wh-what? No! Don't give up!" Oh right, Kuno. She'd almost forgotten they were there. "Don't die, Sukaime!"

"Quit your blubbering, crybaby!" Sukaime frowned. "Don't kill me off!"

"I-I'm not a crybaby, I-"

"Yeah yeah, you're Kuno." She sighed. "Blame Benitsubasa, she was bitching about you the whole way here. You seriously are a crybaby though."

"Yeah," Shigi agreed, but patted Kuno on the head. "She's mine, though."

"Heh, good for you." She would have smiled if it didn't hurt so damn much.

As they spoke, Haihane decided to launch an offensive of her own, but Tsukiumi danced away, Haihane's barbed talons only ripping the hem of her dress. Tsukiumi swung down at Haihane, but the Blue Sekirei ducked away to the side and then slashed out, trying to cut open Tsukiumi's stomach. It was at that point that Sukaime started thinking again. At this point, the pain hadn't exactly subsided, but she was starting to get used to it. She could faintly feel the connection she had to her weapon. Half the problem had been that Haihane could easily block any attack she saw coming, but now she was distracted...

She held her hand outstretched towards her fallen weapon. It twitched once, twice, and then began to

roll towards her across the ground. She almost lost hope when it got caught up on the rails.

"Damn," Sukaime hissed. What now? Well... maybe... "Crybaby Kuno, make yourself useful. Fetch!" She pointed.

"But it's dangerous!" Shigi complained. Sukaime sighed.

"Look! They're over _there_," Sukaime pointed at Tsukiumi and Haihane. "My weapon is in the opposite direction. She's distracted anyway. But hey, keep arguing with me; maybe she'll notice!" The suggestion almost set Kuno off crying again, but at least it also made her hurry up and retrieve Sukaime's javelin.

"H-here," Kuno handed it over.

"Good girl. I'd give you a biscuit but this outfit trades functionality for sex appeal. Now you two get back, just in case." It felt good to have her weapon back, but she knew she'd only have one good shot. Once she gave herself away, there was always the risk that Haihane would shift her focus. It would only take one good swipe to terminate her, she knew. It was hard to say if Tsukiumi would be fast enough to protect her. Would she even try?

But how could she just sit there and hide in the shadow of the titans clashing before her? This was her mess. She'd gone against her ashikabi and even dragged someone else along with her. Now she was lying in a shallow pool of her own blood hoping to be forgotten. That wasn't her. This wasn't the place she'd decided for herself.

She took aim. It was hard, it was like watching a pair of ballroom dancers, but each with blades strapped to their arms. Haihane just wouldn't sit still.

"_Focus! This is what we were made for!"_ She convinced herself. Slowly, she felt her vision narrow. It was like tunnel vision, but it let her focus. No matter how Haihane moved, she never lost track. She was ready, she felt the words at her lips. "_HOWLING SHOT!_" She let go of the javelin and it might as well have disappeared. It screamed, literally, across the bridge towards Haihane.

"What the... HOLY-!" Haihane dived out of the way and the javelin shot past. Sukaime wasn't done though. It made a wide arc up into the air and came back, shooting down at Haihane. Haihane jumped back again and the javelin punched clean through the bridge. Haihane looked relieved, but a moment later the javelin was back, bursting out of the ground like a Bouncing Betty. The pattern repeated, as if Sukaime was a seamstress and the javelin was her needle, threading her way after Haihane who was forced to hop back furiously each time the javelin burst down into or up out of the ground. Suddenly her foot slipped right as the javelin was once more violently shooting up out of the ground. It missed Haihane's face by a millimeter as she leaned back awkwardly, barely keeping her footing.

She couldn't do it. She was spent. She couldn't keep it up. The javelin slowly wobbled its way through the air back to her and then clattered to the ground at her side.

"Huhuhu, nice try. I think you scratched my cheek," Haihane chuckled, but Sukaime could see her sweating. It had been close. Close, but she'd still failed.

"_Water Festival!_" Haihane's eyes snapped wide as Tsukiumi's cry.

"Dammit!" Haihane tried to bring her guard up, but a surge of water struck her, flinging her over the edge of the bridge. Maybe Sukaime hadn't failed quite so miserably after all. In the end _she'd_ become the distraction.

"Hmph, I could have handled that myself! Why did you interfere?" Tsukiumi crossed her arms impatiently.

"I totally saw her first." Sukaime chuckled tiredly.

"The injured should stay out of the fighting! I'm surprised you're even still alive!" Tsukiumi insisted.

"Yeah, well, bleh!" Sukaime stuck her tongue out.

"You are so childish!" the water sekirei exclaimed.

"Ah, but aint' I?" Sukaime tried to grin, but her cheek screamed in pain and her entire body tensed up in protest. "Ow, ow, ow..."

"You stay here, I'll attend to Musubi and her opponent!" Tsukiumi shook her head.

"Hey, make sure you take care of Benitsubasa too. She can't get terminated because I dragged her into this," Sukaime pleaded. Tsukiumi hesitated for a moment, but then gave a curt nod. "Thanks."

"You... you bitch! I nearly drowned!" Sukaime's heart sunk. However, her fears were confirmed as a drenched Haihane dragged herself over the edge of the bridge and coughed up at least a half a lung's worth of water.

"You'd have done me a favor if you'd gone all the way!" Tsukiumi growled impatiently. "_WATER DRAGON!_" A serpentine dragon comprised of, unsurprisingly, water thundered towards Haihane. Haihane disappeared behind the colossal surge, water spraying everywhere as it impacted. When the water dropped to the ground, having lost its cohesion, Haihane was still standing. She'd completely blocked it.

"I'm done! I'm done with you! I'm pissed!" Haihane roared, charging at Tsukiumi. The sword of water snapped back into place around her hand as she met the taloned sekirei. Haihane's assault was far more vicious now. She'd traded finesse for ferocity and it seemed she was coming out ahead. With ten blades to one, Tsukiumi was falling back under the assault.

The two clashed, pushing against each other. Haihane had the edge, being a physical type against Tsukiumi who was improvising. An impressive improvisation, but she definitely wasn't the close combat type. Haihane only needed one hand to keep the pressure on. Her other hand came back, and then slashed down, barbed blades tearing into Tsukiumi's shoulder. Tsukiumi staggered back, holding her water blade up defensively. This was going poorly...

She was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard a crack, then a groan, and then a rumble. Sukaime could have sworn part of the support structure was moving. No, no it was definitely moving. Haihane looked up and her jaw dropped. A large section of I-beams was collapsing down toward her. She barely had time to turn tail and run before it crashed down onto the bridge, at least temporarily separating predator from prey. How the hell were they that lucky?

"Well... I guess you're still alive." With the thunderous crash, she hadn't heard the footsteps of someone approaching her. Her heart both leapt and shriveled at once.

"M-M-Madoka... kun?" She looked up to see him staring down. She was so embarrassed, but so happy. Oh god, she was going to cry. Her bottom lip quivered. "Wait, no, we have witnesses! If Oriha saw me like this..." She shut her eyes tightly. Through sheer force of will she held it together.

"So, I assume it's your fault I'm standing in the middle of a war zone?" Madoka looked out at the chaotic battlefield. She could see the tension in his face. He really didn't want to be there, but because of her...

"Yeah, but if the bridge hadn't just collapsed it'd probably be a lot emptier right now," Sukaime told him.

"You can thank Kaie-" Madoka cut himself off and his eyes widened. Sukaime was suddenly thinking that the supports hadn't fallen on their own.

"Madoka-kun... what did you do?" She frowned at him.

"No! No! Do not look at me that way! This is _your _fault!" Madoka countered.

"Oh my god you winged her!" Sukaime's jaw dropped.

". . ."

"I... I... dammit!" Sukaime hung her head. "F-forget it, you're right." She muttered. "Just... I guess make sure you save Benitsubasa. I haven't been able to keep track of her fight much, but I don't think it's going well." She frowned. "B-by the way, um, how do I look?" Madoka just grimaced.

**. . .**

Upon arriving at the station, they'd found a number of guards tied up by... plants? Whoever had been behind it was no longer present, but it had told them they were definitely in the right place. They made it out to the bridge and it was immediately obvious that the structure was suffering as a result of the fighting. Kaie soon had an idea. As the thought ran through her head, she spotted Sukaime sitting off to the side.

"Madoka-kun, you'll have an opportunity momentarily to check on her," she'd told him. She'd then gripped her whips tightly and took aim at the bridge supports. They were already hanging precariously, with a few cut clean through by something. It wouldn't take much to finish the job. She lashed out, striking them and wrapping her whips around them. They impact alone got it listing precariously and then with one good tug – the bridge shuddered as the damaged bridge section came down. As the heavy beams crashed down, it kicked up a huge cloud of dust and shattered concrete. She gave a nod to Madoka who quickly headed off to see to Sukaime.

"Oriha-san, the one in the dress is Tsukiumi, correct? She's one of Minato's sekirei?" She remembered her from that day at the store.

"Y-yeah," Oriha replied from behind her. "Did you seriously just do that?" Oriha had been rather upset when she'd discovered that Madoka had winged Kaie, but the partial destruction of something so large was apparently enough to momentarily distract her.

"Yes." Kaie nodded. "Now, the enemy escaped the collapse. It is likely she will be back. You should assist Tsukiumi when that happens. I will go to Benitsubasa."

"H-hey! You just want to get on Madoka's good side because she's his favorite!" Oriha complained.

"I promised that I would see to Sukaime and Benitsubasa's safe return. He's already reached Sukaime, now I have to make sure Benitsubasa is safe. Also, if Tsukiumi falls, it will be up to you to protect Madoka. It would be best for everyone if there were as many obstacles between the enemy and Madoka-kun as possible," Kaie explained quickly. Oriha blinked a few times as it sunk in.

"R-right, hurry up then! I'll keep Madoka-sama safe!" Oriha rushed off to where Tsukiumi stood clutching an injured shoulder. With Oriha was busy with that and Madoka checking on Sukaime, that left Kaie alone with her goal.

She quickly jogged down the bridge and through the slowly fading dust cloud from the collapse. She came out the other side and nearly tripped over a body. It was a tall boy on his hands and knees, coughing. He seemed to have a bloody nose. Though the bleeding was only a trickle now, the amount of blood on his shirt suggested it had been much worse not long ago.

"Wh- wh-who?" the young man flinched upon seeing her.

"You must be... Minato?" Kaie questioned.

"Uh, yeah." He nodded slowly. "Are... are you another from the Disciplinary Squad?" He gulped nervously.

"No, I am one of Madoka-kun's sekirei."

"But... huh?"

"I was a recent acquisition."

"But... he was just at Izumo a few hours ago..."

"Very recent." Minato still looked confused, but shook his head.

"W-well if you're here to help, then please; Musubi-chan is in trouble!" he begged her.

"Benitsubasa?" Honestly, she was more concerned about her, if only for Madoka's sake.

"I... I don't know. I think she was OK. I lost track when the bridge collapsed," Minato told her and staggered to his feet. She followed him as he staggered past a chunk of debris and out of the lingering dust. Whatever he saw made him freeze in his tracks. He was probably taller than Madoka, so Kaie had to duck around him to see for herself. She immediately understood his pause.

A sekirei in white, with blonde hair even paler than her own stood there, holding another sekirei in the air by the her collar. It wasn't Benitsubasa, so it had to be Musubi.

"M-Musubi!" Minato called out in worry. Musubi turned her head ever so slightly in response, but was too weak to fight back.

"Ah, who's this? Another of this fool's sekirei come to the rescue? Haihane was almost done dealing with the other two. How lucky. I get to terminate three. Haihane will be so jealous!" the disciplinary sekirei grinned. "To be honest though, this is starting to become tiring. I hope you'll at least be more amusing before the end."

"Kaie, number sixty-two. You shouldn't get ahead of yourself. Now release her and face me!" Kaie demanded. She looked around while she awaited her opponent's response. There, she spotted Benitsubasa off to the side. She was collapsed on the ground, but conscious. She was staring back at her. She supposed she'd already deduced what Kaie's presence meant. Oh well, maybe saving her life would make her less hostile. Somehow she doubted it.

"Again? Fine. Shinjuryo, number one-hundred," Shinjuryo responded. "And release her? After all the trouble I went through catching her?" She closed her eyes as she laughed. "Well, if you insist." Instead of simply letter her go, he hand shot back as she wound up a punch for Musubi's already battered face. Kaie had been expecting such a response and reacted quickly. The whips in her right hand lashed out and struck Shinjuryo's offending arm, stopping the punch. With her left, she aimed for Shinjuryo's face.

The enemy sekirei looked surprised at first, but her next action was one Kaie probably should have seen coming. Shinjuryo shifted her stance ever so slightly, and placed Musubi between herself and Kaie's attack. Kaie quickly pulled back, narrowly avoiding hitting Musubi. Shinjuryo then took the opportunity to throw Musubi towards them. She made it about half way and crashed the ground.

"Musubi!" Minato tried to run to her side, but Kaie's arm shot out and stopped him.

"Wait, it's not safe. Besides, you'll be in my way. Wait until the battle is over. I'll do my best to assure no further harm comes to her," Kaie told him.

"Please..."

**. . .**

Their opponent, whose name had turned out to be Haihane, was being a serious pain. She was taking advantage of the dust and debris and making herself an impossible target. Oriha couldn't hit what she couldn't see.

"Where is she?" Oriha shouted angrily.

"I don't know, but be careful, she's dangerous," Tsukiumi told her.

"Hmph, I'm not weak, maybe you should just stay back and keep out of my way!" Oriha told her.

"I'm number nine, I can't be staying back and letting little girls fight my fights for me!" Tsukiumi growled. That shut Oriha up. Why did Minato have a single number? That was ridiculous! Though, Oriha was suddenly a lot more nervous. How strong was Haihane that she could give even a single number trouble?

"F-fine then, just keep looking!" Oriha stuttered and pursed her lips. There was nothing though. Her ears weren't much use, there were other sounds happening and the bridge occasionally creaked loudly from the damage. A moment later, though, she heard something that had to be nearby.

Her head whipped around in time to see something that nearly stopped her heart. She'd found Haihane, but the taloned sekirei had managed to sneak around past them.

"O-over here!" Kuno shrieked in terror from the sidelines, but Oriha was already watching in horror as Haihane headed right for Madoka.

"Get back!" Madoka put himself between Haihane and Sukaime.

"Very brave of you, but it's pointless." Haihane chuckled. "I'm here for _you!"_ Madoka didn't have to respond as his eyes went wide. He jumped back desperately as Haihane slashed at him, but he landed off balance and Haihane darted forward, slamming the back of her gauntlet into his side and flinging him back. He landed, writhing and clutching his side. He was gasping like he was having trouble breathing. "Hm, that won't kill you will it? Oops."

"GET AWAY FROM HIM YOU BITCH!" Oriha sent all of her chakram at Haihane. The taloned sekirei flinched at the sudden assault, but quickly guarded herself. All Oriha managed was to cut into her clothing.

"I guess I won't be able to kill him just yet, oh well." Haihane frowned. "I guess you'll do. Somebody has to die tonight."

**. . .**

"Hmph, this is troublesome," Shinjuryo muttered, inspecting the arm Kaie had lashed. Her suit had been sliced open and she was bleeding. "Those things are sharp! Grr, HAIHANE!" Shinjuryo shouted. Kaie wasn't sure what she was doing, but she wasn't going to be distracted. She struck with one set of whips, forcing Shinjuryo back. She hopped forward and lashed out with the second set, coming much closer and making Shinjuryo flinch as they cracked inches from her face.

"Dammit, what do you want? I can't just be at your beck and call in the middle of a fight!" A deeper voice complained from behind her.

"Cut this bitch! It's too annoying for me to get close!" Shinjuryo commanded. Kaie looked over her shoulder to see a dark sekirei with claws. Haihane she presumed. The taloned sekirei chuckled and lunged at her, hoping to take advantage of an attack from behind. Kaie didn't see that as giving her an advantage at all.

"_Razor Circus!_" Kaie twirled around as fast as she could, pulling her whips in close. The whips lashed out in all directions around her, whistling through the air. Haihane ran right into it. The whips raked across her midsection and the force of it threw her back into a rough landing in the nearby debris.

"You useless idiot!" Shinjuryo roared.

"Pay attention, you're next," Kaie stared hard at her. She heard rustling as others climbed through the debris field, but this time it was only Oriha and Tsukiumi. Haihane quickly picked herself up and slunk off to join Shinjuryo away from them all. They now had a plus one numbers advantage, though Tsukiumi was injured.

"Don't make light of the Disciplinary Squad!" Shinjuryo growled, taking a stance.

"This is getting out of hand," Haihane spoke up, tenderly clutching her wounded middle. "They even have a single number."

"Then I'll distract them and you just eliminate their ashikabi!" Shinjuryo ordered. Kaie wouldn't be having any of that, they'd had enough time to talk and they'd only decided on further conflict. She snapped her wrist, aiming once more for Shinjuryo. Her whips never made it there. In a flash, a figure dropped down from the surviving bridge supports. In one motion her whips were blasted aside.

The figure was a male one, with weapons resembling tonfa, but much bigger. He wore a loose, dark green, hooded top underneath a black jacket, which resembled what Haihane wore, but nowhere near as tattered. His top draped down his back, going down to the back of his knees and had golden trimming along the hems. He had short, messy black hair and was rather young in appearance.

"This had gone on long enough. Shinjuryo. Haihane. Go home. You've failed and I'm not fixing your mess," he commanded them. He was smaller than them in every way, but he didn't flinch as he gave them orders.

"Go to hell, Heiwamori! I'll do what I want!" Shinjuryo went ahead and flipped him off to punctuate her sentence.

"You're disobeying me? In your condition? Against these odds?" the boy, Heiwamori, shot Shinjuryo a look that made even Kaie shiver and he wasn't even looking in her direction. He looked like a 14 year old boy, and with a soft voice, but something about him was terrifying.

"H-hey, Haihane's the injured one, not me! D-don't just... UGH! Fine!" As she conceded Heiwamori turned to the rest of them.

"Stand aside. They're leaving," he ordered them. Kaie nodded and motioned for everyone to follow her as she walked to the side of the bridge. Tsukiumi looked like she wasn't going to go along with it, but a glance from Minato made her give in. It was a tense moment, but Shinjuryo and Haihane sent only glares their way as they walked past. "Now, the rest of you will follow." Heiwamori turned away from them.

"Hey, wh-what are you doing?" Minato asked. Heiwamori ignored him. Then, without any warning, he drove both his weapons into ground. The already badly damaged bridge shook like it was experiencing an earthquake. A massive hole opened up and, with the support structure already compromised, a huge chunk of the bridge fell into the river. Even with the Disciplinary Squad leaving, it seemed their struggles had all been in vain.

"Your punishment can wait, but you'll not be escaping," Heiwamori told them and then followed his two comrades.

**. . .**

With the disciplinary squad gone there was plenty of time for everyone to limp and regroup. Emotions were mixed. The main ones were relief, anger, and dismay. Madoka was pretty sure most of the anger was coming from Benitsubasa. Thankfully she wasn't very animated at the moment, but she'd definitely live. Dying people didn't yell that much. He was more concerned with that fact that every other movement hurt like hell. It had taken him a while to get Oriha to stop worrying over him while bawling like a baby.

"I'm going to start killing people the second I can walk, I hope you realize this," she growled at him. She was sitting propped up against the railings, not far from Sukaime.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." He sighed. "No chance of you just saying thank you and leaving it at that?"

"How about I write a thank you note and tape it to the MBI helicopter when it comes to retrieve her body?" Benitsubasa glowered.

"Right then." Madoka hung his head. There had never really been any hope, had there?

"Hey, uh, thanks," Minato said and walked over from where he's been checking on Musubi. "I don't think Haruka-san and Kuno can escape now, but if you hadn't come... Musubi would have..."

"Don't thank me, thank Sukaime and Benitsubasa. Or, uh, just thank Sukaime. Benitsubasa would probably smash your kneecaps," Madoka told him.

"I'm right here..." Benitsubasa grumbled.

"We all are. Can we go home now? Carry me!" Sukaime groaned tiredly.

"No way, he's gonna carry me!" Benitsubasa argued.

"Bleeding people get preferential treatment. If you're really desperate, I'm sure you can find a jagged piece of metal lying around somewhere," Sukaime said. Somehow, it always made Madoka feel better when they argued after a fight. It let him know that, injured or not, they were still with him. Though, happy as he was that they were still with him, there was no way he was carrying anyone. His ribs were screaming bloody murder. It was all he could do to keep a straight face while talking.

"No, for whatever reason, you all came, you all fought. Without you, it would have been a lot worse. I don't even want to think about what would have happened if..." Minato looked like he was getting outright teary eyed. "Ah, this is embarrassing."

"I know, right?" Sukaime chuckled.

"But, even so, we're stuck on this side of the bridge! I can see the other side, right over there, but I can't get there!" They were interrupted by Shigi's angry shouts. "Son of a bitch!"

"Y-yeah," Minato muttered, looking downtrodden. "Uh, Tsukiumi, the obstacle is a river and you control water..."

"Even if I wasn't so tired, it's still too much of a gap. I don't have that kind of ability," Tsukiumi spoke quite certainly. Nothing like utterly stomping all hope.

"Madoka?" Minato looked at him. Madoka glanced at Sukaime and Benitsubasa. They were down, and regardless he didn't know how they could have helped. Oriha probably couldn't either, and Kaie...

"Even if my whips could extend that far, I don't see what good it would do," Kaie shrugged helplessly when his gaze reached her.

"Fuck!" Shigi cursed and fell to his knees. Kuno placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, though her own expression was one of defeat. It was then that the wind picked up. The breeze felt good, but it soon became more violent. Before long it felt like a storm was brewing. Madoka flinched and threw his arms up to shield his face, tensing up as he tried to keep himself from being blown away. He must have moved in just the wrong way because he felt a sharp, stabbing pain in his chest. He grit his teeth, trying to fight it off, but suddenly it was a little too hard to breathe.

"The hell?" Madoka wheezed weakly, squinting against the gale. A moment later the wind finally died down, and he fully opened his eyes to see a woman in a tight, lavender outfit whose curves made Kaie, no, made even _Musubi_ look almost average. Long, dark hair, perfect hips, and breasts that were approaching too big. To top it off, she had an air of maturity about her that Minato's and his own sekirei lacked. "Hell..." She was almost enough to make him forget his pain. But who was she?

"The _hell_ are you looking at?" Benitsubasa snapped him out of his trance with a healthy dose of killing intent. And coming back to reality brought a fresh wave of agony. He groaned and went over to Benitsubasa, joining her and Sukaime sitting on the sidelines. He was really not feeling well. Every breath he took was harder than the last. He coughed and covered his mouth. When he pulled his hand away it was bloody.

"That's not good," he whispered to himself. As he said that, his vision began getting dark around the edges.

"Madoka-kun?" The last thing he heard was Sukaime's concerned voice before everything went dark.

* * *

><p><strong>OH MY GOD HE'S. . . probably not dead. Really, there's no point in trying to pretend like he might be... it would kind of kill the story. Mostly it was just a way to cut out a page and a half of me repeating the manga line for fucking line...<strong>

**(Fixed up in batch four of my edits.)**

**Til' next time!**


	19. I Hate Hospitals

**I Hate Hospitals**

Madoka heard wind rushing past his ears. Was there a storm? Was he somewhere up high? Was he... flying? Actually, it kind of tickled. His eyes fluttered open and he realized that none of the above were true. In fact, he didn't recognize where he was. He was in a bed and wherever he was the walls were all white. He hated white, at least as far as decorating went. He realized he was in a hospital. So why-

"Dammit, stop that!" He placed a hand over his ear.

"Awww, the expressions you were making were great! You must have sensitive ears!" Sukaime grinned. She was leaning with her elbows on his bed, chin cradled in her hands, wearing only a hospital gown.

"Sukaime?" Madoka stared at her.

"Hm?"

"Why were you blowing in my ear?" She shrugged and he shook his head. Sometimes she was just incomprehensible. "Shouldn't you be bed ridden?"

"Ah, I got bored." Sukaime pouted. "Besides, this'll heal up in no time! Shouldn't even leave a scar!" She pointed to the large, white bandage taped to her face. "I'll still make a beautiful bride someday!" She sighed contently. "I don't know why people always complain about hospitals. Honestly, it's great. We all get our own bed!" Guilt crashed down on him the moment the words left her lips.

"Y-yeah, but doesn't the food suck?" At least he had good food... that was usually cooked by one of the girls he made sleep on the floor. Dammit.

"Nah, I already ate breakfast. It ain't Oriha quality, but I got it down all right."

"So, speaking of hospitals-"

"Oh, right, you passed out!" Sukaime told him.

"Yeah..." He could use a little filling in.

"Well, I'll give you the short version. Another sekirei showed up and she was head over heels for Minato. Apparently she was a single number like Tsukiumi except even more bad ass! Speaking of her ass-"

"Stay on topic." Madoka frowned impatiently. He remembered that much and he didn't' need to start blushing...

"Fiiiine," Sukaime groaned. "Anyway, she was Kazehana, number three, a wind user. Minato winged her and she used her norito to blow Shigi and the cry baby right over the gap in the bridge!"

"Cry baby?"

"Oh, that's just Benitsubasa's nickname for Kuno," Sukaime explained.

"Sounds about right." Madoka rolled his eyes. He waited a moment before asking Sukaime to go on. He had to let things sink in. Well, Shigi escaping was good news at least. Minato winging one of the single numbers, at least his second one now, was more concerning. Should he be worried about him having that kind of power at his disposal? Wait, Tsukiumi was a single number too? That revelation was only just hitting him. Sure he'd met her before, but he hadn't ever heard her number. Suddenly the meek and mild-mannered Minato had a terrifying side to him. "So, uh, how did we get here then?"

"Minato's mom showed up and gave us a ride!" Sukaime grinned.

"You're... kidding, right?" Madoka stared at her in total disbelief.

"In a helicopter! Would you believe she works for MBI?"

"OK seriously, stop fucking with me. What really happened?"

"Oh, Madoka-kun, if I was fucking with you, you'd know it." Sukaime spoke, her voice soft and wistful, as she began dragging her finger lazily across his chest. He lightly swatted her hand before things got carried away.

"What. Really. Happened?" He demanded. Sukaime just smirked at him silently for a bit.

"I just told you," she finally said and stuck her tongue out. Madoka lay there dumbfounded. He realized he was holding his breath and let it out in a long, slow 'woosh.'

"Fantastic," he muttered.

"Isn't it?" Meanwhile, Sukaime was all sunshine and rainbows. And then she jumped on his bed. Hospital beds weren't really made for two and it was a tighter fit than even his bed at home.

"Uh, hi?" He raised an eyebrow.

"We need another 'bed talk,'" she told him.

"Bed talk?"

"Well the last time we had a meaningful chat we were sharing your bed-"

"Stop making it sound so suggestive!" He frowned.

"What? Afraid Benitsubasa will find out? Don't worry, she's out like a light! I upped her morphine!"

"What?" He shot upright. He nearly cried when his ribs protested. They'd ached after he'd been punched by that ashikabi, but whatever the sekirei on the bridge had done to him was far worse.

"Kidding! She's not hooked up to anything like that, don't panic." Sukaime bobbed her eyebrows teasingly. "Err, you OK?"

"I'll be fine. Idiot." He slowly lay back down, scowling.

"Sorry, I know she's your favorite." She lay down close to him, a necessity or she'd have fallen off the bed. Unlike before, she sounded serious when she said it.

"What are you talking about?"

"I was angry when you wouldn't help, you know, but then I was stupid about it. It's my fault for saying no the first time anyway, isn't it?" she muttered. "You said you trusted me and then I just went behind your back. I got Benitsubasa hurt. I said my job it's to make everything perfect, but then I nearly got myself killed and dragged her right along with me. You had to fix everything this time... I got _you _hurt."

"Yeah," he said. "That was pretty stupid." He felt her wince, tensing up.

"I'm sorry..."

"You did a good thing, though."

"Huh?"

"Look, I don't want you thinking I'm OK with you pulling those kinds of stunts without me knowing all time time, but this time... you made me do what I should have done in the first place. I'm always dragging you along to see my friends, you were right. This time you just did it to me. You like Musubi, right? We'll call it even." He patted her on the head.

"Yeah, but you had to wing Kaie! How am I supposed to compete with her and that body?" She pouted and looked away from him. When she looked back though, she wasn't pouting anymore. "Of course, she's not here right now, is she? She thought she was being all cool escaping MBI with Oriha. Now I have you all to myself. My hero who came to my rescue." She swung a leg over his waist, straddling him. At least she had underwear on under her gown.

"We're in public..." he warned her.

"Hm? We have these nice curtains around your bed though. Or do I have to wait til' we get home?" She leaned close to him, hands on his chest.

"No."

"Oh, OK. I'll just make sure I'm quiet-"

"Not in public, not at home. Down girl!"

"Hey! Don't talk to me like that!" She glared. "I thought we agreed Benitsubasa was the dog!" Madoka shook his head, but he had to put a hand over his mouth to hide his laugh. She'd gotten him. "Bah, I'm just going to go poke her and see what happens. You're no fun!"

"I can tell you what'll happen. She'll rip your arm off."

"Well, if you're gonna get hurt, might as well do it in a hospital!" Sukaime quipped and slid off him and went to harass the sleeping Benitsubasa... only to first turn around and press her lips against his cheek.

**. . .**

"Stop that!"

"Hm, but I'm still bored..."

"I _will_ kill you!"

"You said that fifteen pokes ago and I'm not dead yet."

"Sukaime, stop torturing Benitsubasa," Madoka grumbled, slowly walking over to Benitsubasa's bed where Sukaime was making good on her word.

"Aww, do I have to?" Sukaime made puppy-dog eyes.

"Don't argue with the man who's in pain," Madoka told her impatiently. "Go take a nap or something."

"But I'm not sleepy-"

"Sukaime..."

"Fine, fine, I'll leave you two love birds alone," Sukaime conceded. Madoka rolled his eyes as she walked off to her own bed.

"Finally." Benitsubasa let out a long sigh.

"So, how are you feeling?" Madoka asked and gingerly sat down in a chair off to the side of her bed.

"I was beaten until I couldn't stand less than a day ago," she replied. Madoka decided not to press the matter.

"Right then." He cleared his throat. "I wanted to talk about something else, actually."

"What?" She turned her head towards him.

"A few days ago, your fight against those twins, what was that all about?" he asked.

"What? Trying to distract me from this with a fight I actually won? Don't bother, I'm not suicidal. You'll just nag me if I act depressed, so I'm skipping that phase," she muttered.

"That's not why." He shook his head. "It wasn't just another fight for you. You knew them somehow."

"Well they tried to kill me once, does that count as knowing them?" she told him with startling candor.

"I-... what?" He blinked. He knew he'd never seen those two before that day, so when had this happened?

"They were after Kaie, right? They were hunting her because she wasn't winged-"

"They did that to you?" Madoka stiffened. Had he nearly lost her before even meeting her?

"I was cold, hungry, and pathetic, and then they showed up and tried to terminate me. So yes, it was more than just another fight for me. I just returned the favor and did to them what they failed to do to me," she explained.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I was sleeping in alleyways. I didn't want to talk about it. I was weak then and had to run away. It's not worth remembering anymore. It's over now. I got my revenge and I enjoyed it." She crossed her arms. She said it, but she didn't look happy at all. He knew her well enough by now that he knew that wasn't entirely true. She'd wanted to talk to him about it, but her pride stopped her. She hated exposing weakness.

"Hey," he said softly. He placed a hand on her head, ruffling her hair gently. "I get it. I'm glad you're still with me." He saw her shrink down, trying to hide under the covers and conceal her blushing face. It didn't take her long to give up on that though and she instead moved closer to him, turning her head into his hand.

"Umm, are _you_ OK?" she asked, looking up at him. Her eyes were big and bright and filled with worry.

"Yeah." He smiled reassuringly.

He stayed like that, his hand on her head and her nuzzling against it. Before long, he realized she'd actually fallen asleep. He only pulled his hand away when the position began to become uncomfortable. It didn't take long for Benitsubasa to start tossing and turning. Awake or not, he guessed she missed his presence already. He frowned; he didn't know what to do about that. Every now and then he got a reminder of just how tied together they were. Sometimes it scared him.

**. . .**

Kaie woke up early in the morning. Her sleep had been unusually comfortable. One would think that comfortable sleep would lead to sleeping in late, but she'd slept so well she didn't need to. She'd also gone to bed early just so she could enjoy it. After the battle on the crumbling bridge, Kazehana had led her and Oriha back to Izumo inn. Having a proper place to sleep was glorious.

Waking up early was good though, she realized. She'd almost forgotten, but she still had a job. She wasn't entirely sure how she'd get there from Izumo, but she'd have to figure it out. She needed to cover for Madoka and hopefully stop him from losing his job. The owner was nice enough, she was sure it would be fine.

That was what she had told herself anyway. Getting hired had been easy, so she'd assumed the owner was an easygoing man. That assumption was incorrect. Fortunately the owner had been willing to believe her when she'd told him that Madoka was unwell and wouldn't be able to come in, and she wasn't sure when he'd recover. That said, he'd been very vocal about how annoyed he was by this. She'd gotten the feeling that if she didn't do her job well she'd regret it. However, she felt maybe she shouldn't to do _too_ well. There was no need to put Madoka out of a job.

**. . .**

They'd been in the hospital for a while. Sukaime and Benitsubasa were fully recovered. Sukaime still had bandages on her face, but supposedly she was back at one-hundred percent otherwise. He just had to wait and see when it would be OK for _him_ to leave. It turned out he'd broken a rib, and said rib had then made its way into his lung, puncturing it, so they didn't want him leaving until his rib was properly healed. He didn't need another hard knock breaking it _again_ because he hadn't given time, so he'd agreed to wait.

He was currently regretting asking for details, because now he knew they'd stabbed a giant needle into his chest as part of the treatment. Thinking about it still made him shudder.

Since he was waiting, he decided to go check on something. He knew Minato was still in the hospital somewhere, though in a different room. Apparently he wasn't even allowed to leave his bed, having suffered some sort of head trauma. He'd looked fine, but when it came to one's brain it wasn't good to take chances. He'd heard of people dropping dead in the past even when they'd "looked fine."

There was surprisingly no one to stop him from going into Minato's room, but he supposed that with Minato's sekirei around, Madoka wasn't much of a threat anyway.

"Madoka-san!" Speaking of sekirei, Musubi was the first person to greet him.

"Heh, I guess all sekirei heal fast," Madoka commented. Considering she'd had it at least as bad as Benitsubasa, she was certainly bubbly and bouncy enough. A moment later, he realized how embarrassingly true that was as she ran over to him.

"Yep! I'm all better! I was out of energy before, so I had to eat a lot!" Musubi explained with her smile that never seemed to die, despite Benitsubasa's best efforts in the past. "It's all thanks to you. If you hadn't been there, Musubi might not be _here_." She gave him a small bow.

"I-I'm sure I didn't help that much," Madoka coughed nervously. "Seriously, you should be thanking Sukaime, if anyone. Any of my sekirei had more to do with it than I did if you ask me." Sukaime for going there despite his decision not to, Benitsubasa for fighting alongside Musubi, Kaie for playing the cavalry, and Oriha for keeping his stupid ass from being killed. Him dying would have made their rescue attempt far last spectacular.

"Oh, you're right! I should thank them too!" Musubi looked embarrassed that she hadn't thought of it herself.

"M-Musubi, who's there?" Madoka heard Minato's voice behind one of the curtains in the room. Musubi quickly trotted over and pulled the curtain aside.

"Look, it's Madoka-san!" she told him.

"Hey, did we wake you?" he asked.

"No. I've been lying around for days now, I couldn't sleep even if I wanted to."

"I know the feeling. So, how long did they give you? I heard you only have a few decades left." Madoka smirked. Minato chuckled.

"Something like that. Before your sekirei showed up, the one in the white outfit was getting pretty violent. She hit me a few times," Minato explained.

"Musubi won't let it happen ever again! I'll get stronger!" Musubi spoke up immediately. That got Madoka thinking. What would happen when he saw Oriha again? Knowing her, she was probably still having a fit since he'd gotten hurt in front of her. He'd have to cheer her up somehow.

"There's actually one other thing I'm here for," Madoka said.

"Huh?" Minato looked at him curiously.

"I heard about your mother. What's that all about?" Madoka raised an eyebrow expectantly. Minato looked confused, but then he sighed.

"R-right, that..." Minato said. "Umm, well... she works for MBI..." Nothing new there.

"That's why I'm bringing her up. And?"

"I-I really don't know much more than that. She said she was in charge of the project," Minato explained.

"What? I thought that Minaka guy was running things," Madoka replied.

"From what I can tell he _is_ in charge, but my mother actually oversees things as they go; like when sekirei get terminated I guess."

"And you really had no idea?" Madoka found that hard to believe... and yet he did. Just watching Minato try to explain it, the guy looked like his head was going to explode. Minato shook his head, no. "All right, I trust you."

"Why wouldn't you?" Musubi asked.

"This Sekirei Plan is sick, I can't trust anyone involved in it." He looked back at Minato. "That includes your mom, sorry."

"It's... uhh... I get it." Minato definitely didn't look happy about that, but that's how it was. Even Musubi looked like she was starting to get upset. "I don't think she's bad though, the plan itself wasn't her idea."

"So? She's going along with it. Think about what exactly goes on in this 'plan,' what it makes people do to each other." Madoka sighed. "Forget it, I'm not trying to turn you against your mom. What I think doesn't matter." When Minato didn't answer, Madoka started to get antsy. He needed to get out of the room. Thankfully, a distraction arose when the door opened.

"I'm back!" It was Tsukiumi. "Musubi, don't eat all the food this time! Minato needs to recover his strength!" she ranted before noticing him. "Oh... it's you." Her face flushed red, but he knew it wasn't because she was happy to see him.

"Yep... uh, me..." Madoka coughed nervously. "I should go."

"Wait!" Tsukiumi shouted. He was barely five feet away, so it was hardly necessary, but he'd be damned if he didn't listen... and flinch, causing his ribs to twinge.

"Err, y-yes?" he asked.

"Umm," Tsukiumi averted her eyes from him. "T-tell your sekirei, uh, Sukaime... tell her thanks. The pink haired one too I guess." Madoka had to grin at this.

"Tell her yourself, Sukaime would _love _to hear it from you in person," Madoka told her. Sukaime _would_ love it. Tsukiumi was the kind of person Sukaime would have a field day messing with. "But if Benitsubasa is too scary, I suppose I could at least talk to _her_ for you."

"D-don't mock me! Fine, I'll do it later!" Tsukiumi growled. Fortunately her hands were full with the food she'd brought, so Madoka was safe.

"Oh, o-one more thing before you go," Minato spoke up. "Your other sekirei ended up at Izumo. They said I'd be clear to leave tomorrow, I don't know about you, but-"

"I don't care what they're telling me. Tomorrow it is." Madoka nodded. So maybe he wouldn't be waiting. Freedom was too tempting.

**. . .**

"So what were you up to?" Oriha asked suspiciously. Kaie sighed, this might be annoying. She might have only just become Madoka's sekirei a few days ago, but she'd still lived with them long enough to have a basic understanding of them. She was the only sane one. Benitsubasa was a murderous fury, Sukaime was a manipulative trickster, and Oriha had self-worth issues. Actually, she was pretty sure they all had self-worth issues. And they were _all_ high-strung. If they got themselves wound any tighter it wasn't going to be pretty.

"Saving Madoka's job, what else?" Kaie told her. Clearly that was the last thing Oriha had thought of, as she didn't have a comeback ready.

"O-oh... I guess that's... good then," Oriha replied in embarrassment. Oriha had been even more wound up lately, worrying about Madoka.

"Yes. It means we won't starve while he's... wherever he is. That woman better not have been lying. Kazehana seemed to trust her though, at least to some extent," Kaie muttered mostly to herself. Perhaps she was trying to reassure herself. She was worried too after all. She knew Madoka had to be alive, but where? When would he be back? She'd been told numerous times by the various residents of Izumo to not worry and that he'd be back, but none could say when. She could feel herself slowly winding up into her own ball of anxiety.

She let out a long breath and just sat down in their room that they'd been given. She needed to relax.

"What's in the bag?" Oriha asked. Kaie raised an eyebrow.

"You're just noticing now? Oh, right, you were busy interrogating me." Kaie shook her head, almost amused. She reached into the small, plastic bag and pulled out a rectangular object. It was a brand new deck of cards. Madoka had been nice enough not to take her _entire_ paycheck at the end of every week, and she got an employee discount, so she'd decided to get something to play with to pass time and calm her nerves. She held it up for a moment so Oriha could see before she set about opening it. "So if you don't mind, try not to make too much noise."

As she laid the cards out, she could feel Oriha staring, perhaps glaring, at her. Unfortunately, telling Oriha to also turn her eyes off might have stepped into the territory of unreasonable.

**. . .**

"My arms are starting to go numb," Madoka said. Most men would have killed to be in his position, and they'd have probably nuked a small third world country to be in Minato's, but the walk from the hospital was a hell of a lot longer than from work to home and he was reaching his breaking point. Both of the young men had girls hanging on them as they walked. Madoka had both of his arms held hostage, one by Benitsubasa and the other by Sukaime.

"But if we let go and you should start feeling faint and collapse, you could hurt yourself again! We have to keep a close eye on you," Sukaime insisted, only tightening her grasp on his arm, even pulling it closer against her chest. "And there's nothing like cute girls to keep your heart rate up, right?"

"H-hey! Stop that! I'm _tolerating_ you right now, don't push your luck!" Benitsubasa growled jealously.

"Uh, yeah, she's not stuck in bed anymore; you might want to listen." Madoka cleared his throat nervously. Thankfully, Sukaime took the hint and resigned to just linking arms casually. Numb arms were preferable to a street brawl between his own sekirei.

"And I thought mine were a handful." Minato chuckled from his position between Musubi and Tsukiumi.

"What are you trying to say?" Tsukiumi frowned. Madoka just rolled his eyes. His sekirei were indeed a handful. He could probably use a few more hands. Quite literally at the moment. His nose itched...

Finally they made it to Izumo. They walked through the front gate and it seemed they'd make it to the front door and their little journey would have a quiet conclusion. He should have known better. The door may as well have exploded the way it was thrown open.

"Save m-" Madoka tried to beg, but a projectile Oriha collided with him and firmly attached herself to his waist. Well, at the very least he didn't think she'd broken his ribs... _again_. If there was a tear in his eye though, it was because she probably came pretty close to doing so and not so much because he was overcome with joy to see her again. "H-hey..."

"WHERE WERE YOU?" Oriha bawled, face burrowing deeper and deeper into his shirt which was slowly becoming soaked with her tears. With a little effort he extricated his arm from Sukaime, he knew better than to try and make Benitsubasa let go, and put his hand on Oriha's head. Well, he have missed her a _little_.

"Sorry, I was uh..." Well it wasn't like he could lie to her, but he knew the word "hospital" wouldn't go over well. He supposed he'd better brace himself. "Recovering in a hospital." Oriha stopped and stared up at him. Her eyes were huge and glistening with tears. She looked like someone had just thrown her cat under a bus. He had a feeling he was the cat.

"It's all my fault!" Oriha's wailing started over again. She pulled away from him like he was on fire and buried her face in her hands. He reached out again, trying to comfort her, but she flinched away.

"I-..." He tried to move closer, but something was dragging him down. He paused and glanced back at Benitsubasa. "Can you let go? You're making this more difficult than it has to be." The pink-haired girl scowled and tightened her grip. His arm was going to hurt like hell when the circulation finally came back. "Sukaime, would you mind playing crowbar real quick?"

"What? You think I'm that strong?" Sukaime shook her head. However, it seemed that Benitsubasa had decided if he was that desperate to make her let go, she didn't want to cling anymore because she finally set him free.

"Thank god," Madoka muttered under his breath. Yep, he could already feel the pins and needles.

He took a step towards Oriha. She looked ready to bolt, but he reached out and grabbed her arm. He grabbed her chin with his other hand and made her look at him. "You listening?" He felt her nod. "Good, so pay attention. It's not your fault. You didn't hurt me, you _saved_ me. Now stop crying. Puffy, red eyes don't suit you." He wondered why he'd said it like that. It sounded like he was flirting. It certainly must have to Oriha – her cheeks were starting to match her eyes in color.

Now he was scared to turn around. Benitsubasa was still there.

"Heh, I was expecting something like that to happen to me," Minato spoke up now that Madoka had defused the situation with Oriha.

"Well, all of your crazy sekirei are already with you, right?" Sukaime said.

"Right. Err, I mean, uh... wait." Minato made a face like he was forgetting something. "Err, m-maybe I should go check on Kuu, actually. If I see Kaie I'll send her out." Minato then headed in, Musubi and Tsukiumi in tow. A few seconds later they heard what sounded like a thud and a pained cry. Madoka assumed he'd indeed found Kuu. If Oriha's greeting was anything to go by, he could sympathize.

"Well well, I figured I'd find you if I followed Oriha. I'm glad you're OK." Madoka looked up to see Kaie leaning against the door frame. Her relaxed demeanor was a refreshing sight... and maybe just a little alluring.

"What? No flying hug or tackling me to the ground?" Madoka asked. Kaie giggled.

"I could if you wanted me to. I figured I should give you a break, though. Now that we've all been reunited, shall we be going? I know _I've_ seen enough of this place. As comfortable as it is, it's not home," Kaie said, glancing back inside Izumo. Benitsubasa scoffed the moment Kaie said the word "home."

"Yeah." Madoka nodded. "You can go ahead, I need to run an errand before I head back. Don't worry, no sekirei or ashikabi will be involved."

"What is it? Why can't I go?" Benitsubasa asked. He couldn't say her suspicion was surprising considering all that had happened. She'd just have to trust him this time, though.

"It's a surprise. You'll see," he told her. "Go on, I'll be home soon."

**. . .**

Once his sekirei had left, he'd said farewell to Minato, and, most importantly, thanked Miya for taking care of his sekirei, Madoka headed off to take care of his mysterious errand. Actually, he was just going to his parents' house. It wasn't that he didn't want to bring his sekirei, but if Benitsubasa had caused sparks, he didn't want to know how his parents would react to the added presence of Sukaime, Oriha, and Kaie. Especially Kaie. Or would Sukaime be worse? It was hard to say. Sukaime dressed weird but Kaie's figure was just plain attention grabbing. Oriha might have almost been acceptable in his father's eyes though. Almost, but somehow he doubted even she could pass the man's scrutinizing gaze.

He knocked and was thankful that once again it was his mother who answered the door.

"Madoka! It's been a while, where have you been?" she asked. "I thought you'd given up on us."

"Sorry," Madoka said, but he didn't feel as guilty as he'd expected after neglecting to visit for so long. "How have you been?"

"Oh, well enough. Don't worry about me. What about you?" she asked. Well, that was a hell of a question, and he had no idea how to answer. Where to start? He was living with four girls who were all fighting for his affection, one of which was masquerading as his cousin at his job, he'd gotten into a fist fight and fractured a rib, he'd then made a new friend only to abandon him when he needed help, then when he'd finally shown up he'd gotten his rib fully broken and punctured his lung thus spending the last few days in a hospital. He was probably forgetting something.

"I'm... just great." Madoka made himself smile. Well, at least he got along with said four girls most of the time. But he was thinking it was about time he take a little more responsibility for their living conditions. "By the way, do we still have all our camping gear? I need to borrow some of it."

**. . .**

Oriha was going to snap. She'd finally gotten Madoka back and now he was already gone again and once again she had no idea where to. He'd better come back quickly. The worst part was the fact that she couldn't make her heart slow down. It wasn't just worry now, either. The way he'd taken her chin and stared into her eyes was burned into her memory. If she focused really hard she could almost still feel his hand on her skin.

Did he like her eyes? Had he just said it to calm her down? Both maybe? She really didn't care if he'd had an ulterior motive, just as long as somewhere inside he liked her, or just any part of her. She needed an outlet for all these feelings soon. Unfortunately, only one outlet would do and it wasn't an option. She needed to be alone with Madoka. She needed him all to herself and she needed to be close to him. But Madoka always kept up a wall, even when Benitsubasa _wasn't_ exuding her jealous aura. She needed to get him away from the pink-haired annoyance and then find a way to break that wall down.

Ironically, said pink-haired annoyance was in a sympathetic position. Aside from herself, Benitsubasa was the only other one fretting over Madoka's not being there. Sukaime was being... Sukaime, not seeming to care and teasing Benitsubasa for pacing and Kaie was an ice-cube. Not only had she commandeered the kitchen table, she was casually playing with her new deck of cards. She'd have loved to have just an ounce of that unconcerned disposition.

"How can you just sit there while Madoka's off doing who knows what?" Oriha shouted finally.

"Easily, I just don't use my legs and gravity does the rest," Kaie replied deadpan, not taking her eyes off her game.

"I-I... you... stop playing your stupid game and look at me! Why are you so relaxed?" Oriha seethed. Why had Madoka winged her? She was the worst! How could she not worry about her ashikabi?

"I trust Madoka-kun. He'll be fine, there's no danger he needs to worry about. No other ashikabi really knows who he is, so without us around to draw attention to him, I doubt he'll be bothered," Kaie said. "Well, aside from his friends that is and he has quite a few it seems." Kaie looked up from her game. "And it helps to not think about it and focus on something else. Would you like to join me?" She pointed to an empty chair at the table.

"N-no." Oriha crossed her arms. And it wasn't true, she knew at least one person who knew Madoka that was most certainly not his friend. Higa, the one who'd tried to wing her before Madoka saved her. Higa had every reason to bother Madoka, and maybe more, because of that. She didn't know what Higa could or would do given the chance and that just brought a fresh wave of anxiety down on her. Even if she viewed Kaie as more than competition she'd never be able to focus on a card game right now. Not while-

"I'm back!" Madoka called out a moment after the sound of the door opening reached the kitchen. Well now she just felt silly. Well it wasn't her fault he'd chosen to go do god knew what moments after coming back from being hospitalized without her even able to visit!

She was off in an instant, charging into the hallway. In her haste she didn't bother watching where she was going, only caring that she reached her destination. Reach it she did, but something else had ended up in her path. She flinched and shut her eyes as she collided into an unknown obstacle. She began to lose her balance but found something to grab onto just in time. It felt like... cloth?

"Well, it's nice to see you two getting along," she heard Madoka say. She quickly opened her eyes and found herself face-to-face with and clinging to... Benitsubasa.

"Off," the violently tempered girl ordered and Oriha let go quickly, as if Benitsubasa was covered in thorns. Fortunately, Benitsubasa quickly forgot about her and turned her attention toward Madoka instead. "Where have you be-. . . what's all that?" Oriha looked as well and saw that Madoka was carrying an unwieldy load.

"Um, Madoka-sama?" Oriha cocked her head curiously.

"Catch," Madoka slung a large, round object at her. Oriha caught it, and it was soft and not all that heavy. "Your new bed. Well, not that new but it should be in good enough condition." He then tossed another to Benitsubasa.

"Wh-" Benitsubasa caught it easily. "Are these... sleeping bags?"

"I figured it'd be better than just blankets on a hardwood floor," Madoka said.

"Sleeping bags you say?" Suddenly Sukaime was present and poking her chin over Benitsubasa's shoulder. "I bet the two of us can fit into one to stay warm."

"You're right. How long does it take for a dead body to cool? You'd last at least one full night, right?" Benitsubasa grumbled.

**. . .**

"Th-there's enough for all of you to have your own," Madoka assured them nervously. He was pretty sure Benitsubasa was just joking. At least that's what he was hoping.

"Hm, so I have to ask the obvious question," Sukaime said as she slid off of Benitsubasa. "Which one used to be yours?" That gave him pause. He was actually pretty sure he knew, and Oriha was currently holding it. He was also pretty sure that if he said that Benitsubasa would beat her to death and take it for her own.

"Huh, I dunno. It's been forever since I last used them. I probably used all of them at one point or another." Well, it wasn't a total lie.

"Oh really?" Sukaime didn't seem to buy it.

"Really." Madoka silenced any further responses by chucking one of the last two sleeping bags at her. He might have thrown it a little harder since she stumbled, but managed to catch it. He placed the last sleeping bag on the floor, glad to be relieved of his burden. He'd felt like an idiot walking down the street carrying four sleeping bags, two barely fitting under each arm. "Now go find a place to keep these when you're not using them."

**. . .**

Madoka felt like dinner had tasted better than usual that night. Oriha must have gone all out. While he appreciated her effort, he felt a little guilty. He'd done his best to try and calm her down and assuage her guilt, but he had a feeling that any extra effort was because she was trying to make up for something. Or maybe after days of hospital food _anything _else was going to taste amazing.

Just like lying in his bed felt more comfortable than it usually did. Hospital beds were nice and adjustable, but the padding had been a little thin. He was content to just relax and enjoy an early night in his own bed. It would let him get some extra sleep before he had to go to his job that Kaie had been shrewd enough to save. He knew he owed her a lot. She'd pulled him out of the fire twice now. He just had no idea how he could repay her. He decided he could worry about that tomorrow and closed his eyes.

His hopes for respite were dashed when he heard his door open. He tried to pretend like he hadn't heard and was asleep, but soon he felt his mattress shift as another source of weight pressed down on it.

"Madoka-kun, I know you can't be asleep already!" It was Sukaime.

"Oh god it's you," Madoka muttered and cracked an eye open. To his surprise, Sukaime pouted and turned to walk away, but he caught her wrist. "What is it?"

**. . .**

"Ah, good, I was just testing you!" She grinned. She honestly wasn't sure _why_ she'd tried to leave. She should have known he wasn't serious. Maybe she'd been hoping for a nicer greeting.

"Of course." Madoka rolled his eyes. Sukaime sat on the edge of his bed just below his shoulder looking down at him.

"So, sleeping bags huh?"

"Yeah. In happier times my parents took me camping. I remembered the sleeping bags and figured it was about time I give you girls something better to sleep on. Why?" Madoka asked.

"Hm, just wondering what took you so long I guess," she told him teasingly with a coy smirk.

"Sorry about that." Madoka averted his gaze. It seemed she'd found a weak point. Oh well, she'd be merciful this time.

"So what's this about your parents and happier times? Did things stop being so happy? Is that why you live alone?" She didn't know much about Madoka's family she realized. In fact, when she thought about it, she didn't know much at all. Well, there was that one secret she'd been blackmailed into keeping to herself, but that was it. She could make some assumptions based on that, but it still didn't tell her very much about him.

"I guess you could say that." Madoka shrugged. "Benitsubasa knows a bit, ask her about it tomorrow." Of course she did. But why couldn't _he_ tell her. She'd asked _him_. Was he trying to make her go away so he could sleep? Well fine, she'd let him have his precious sleep. There she went again, acting sensitive when he wasn't even saying anything that bad. Sure, it wasn't her overreacting to a simple joke this time, but wasn't she reading too much into it? She was starting to frustrate herself.

"Well, I figured I should thank you, even if it took you a while." She feigned her usual cockily casual demeanor as she spoke. "I think everyone else was so excited they forgot to."

"Don't worry about it. Like you said, I should have done it a while ago. I just hope they help."

"Oh I already tested mine. It's a lot better than a blanket and a bunch of two-by-fours. It'd be even better if Benitsubasa would share. She's like a little furnace."

"And you know that how?" Madoka cocked an eyebrow curiously?

"You's be surprised how much her guard drops when she's asleep! Not that _you_ would need to know that." Sukaime winked suggestively.

"Nope." Honestly, his response didn't surprise her. Oh well. She chuckled a little.

"Well, thanks Madoka-kun. Good job." She smiled and leaned close to him. Before he could flinch away she snaked her arm around and held him still while she planted her lips on his cheek. Unlike before in the hospital she held it this time. "Mmmmmmmmwuah!" She finally pulled away, satisfied by the burning blush that adorned Madoka's deliciously flustered face.

"You enjoyed that way too much," Madoka mumbled and averted his eyes.

"Of course I did! Good night, Madoka-kun."

"Y-yeah. Good night."

* * *

><p><strong>Ah, they just love ambushing him in his bedroom! But when else are they going to be able to get him alone? I need to find new places for future, private conversations. <strong>

**(Fixed up in batch four of my edits.)**

**Til' next time!**


	20. I Hate Candles

**I Hate Candles**

It almost felt like she'd gone back in time a little. The bridge battle may as well have never happened. Benitsubasa's life for the last week had been simple, practically worry free. It had been like that before. She would wait home lazily for Madoka to be done at work and then walk him home. It was like that again, but just a little more crowded than it used to be. She'd have been glad that Kaie wasn't always around if the reason for that wasn't that she spent all day at work with Madoka. So maybe things weren't _that _worry free, but at least she'd managed a full week of napping, stab-wound-free, on the couch.

There was one little curiosity though. She didn't pay much attention, usually napping or generally oblivious on her couch, but Benitsubasa had noticed that Oriha seemed to be sneaking out of the house. She had no idea where to or why, but she'd asked Madoka and he'd said he didn't know anything about it. She'd decided she believed him and that, so long as Oriha wasn't sneaking off to spend extra time with him, she didn't care.

Aside from that one thing her life for the moment was simple. Also boring, but after all that had happened lately, boring was actually refreshing. As much as she liked to fight and as much as she yearned for Madoka's recognition, lounging was far more comfortable than someone's fist in her face. Or an icicle in her thigh. Or electrocution. At least she didn't think electrocution would ever be an issue again. She'd solved that problem.

There was still Shinjuryo, though. That one had earned herself a good beat down the next time they met. Akitsu too. They'd both humiliated her. But, by some twist of fate, she was still alive which meant that there _would _be a reckoning. They'd regret leaving and not finishing her off. The moment that realization dawned on them, the moment she saw it in their eyes, would be sweet.

**. . .**

Masukagami felt like she was withering away. She was a flower without sunlight. Avaron was there, but only just. She was starting to forget what her skin felt like and what her hair smelled like. She couldn't stand it. The person whom she loved and who she'd twined her soul with was so distant. It wasn't the way things were supposed to be.

Masukagami was pacing back and forth as anxiety took control of her body. She'd spent so many days in a state of depression and lethargy that she couldn't sit still any more. She was reaching her limit, but what would she do when she hit it? Would she just break? She didn't want to find out. She just wanted Avaron back. It didn't matter if Avaron didn't love her yet. As long as she had her ashikabi, she was sure everything would be fine in the end.

She turned on her heel, ready to continue wearing down the floor with her pacing, but as she began to walk past a doorway she froze. Avaron was right in front of her. She was so close. If she took one more step forward...

"Excuse me," Avaron said. Masukagami flinched and quickly shuffled back.

"S-sorry, Avaron-sama," Masukagami apologized quickly for getting in her way. She waited patiently and soon Avaron came back, a glass of water in her hand. It was only scarce few times like this that she ever saw Avaron. She heard Avaron's footsteps as she headed back up the stairs to her room.

Finally she hit her limit. She raced after Avaron, flying up the stairs. She made it to Avaron's room right before she could shut the door. Slipping her hands in to stop it at the last second. She winced as her fingers were pinched between the door and the door frame, but didn't relent.

"Masukagami... let go." Masukagami could only see one of Avaron's eye peeking out through the small gap.

"N-no! Let me in!" Masukagami insisted.

"Let. Go," Avaron ordered her icily.

"No!" Masukagami pushed the door open. It wasn't that hard, but she gasped as Avaron was thrown back off her feet, the glass clattering out of her hand and spilling its contents. With a groan, Avaron began to sit up. At this point Masukagami figured she had nothing left to lose, so before Avaron could get up Masukagami threw herself upon her, pinning her down and clinging to her tightly.

"What are you doing? Let me go!" Avaron growled.

"No! I'm never letting go! You can't make me!" she refused. She wasn't just being stubborn, Avaron really couldn't make her. She was much stronger and at this point she was willing to abuse that.

"Fine," Avaron muttered and just lay there limply, eyes averted. Masukagami didn't know how long she lay there on top of Avaron, but her emotions were tumultuous within her. She finally had her where she wanted her, their bodies pressed together, her warmth flowing into her, and yet she still felt like Avaron wasn't really there. Her entire body was shaking and soon her eyes overflowed with tears. What would it take to fix things? Could their bond ever be repaired?

She hated herself. She'd done this. She'd forced herself on Avaron and this was what she deserved. And now she was crying again. She knew Avaron hated it when she cried, it always made her mad, but she couldn't stop. She had nothing left – she was empty.

"It's not working, is it?" Avaron said.

"Wh-wh-" Masukagami felt Avaron's hand gently fall upon her shoulder.

"I tried to pull away so I wouldn't hurt you, but you're still crying." Avaron's other hand brushed across her face, wiping away her tears, though they were soon replaced. "I'm going to ruin you. I don't know how to keep you safe."

"I don't u-understand," Masukagami hiccuped. She was still getting used to the fact that she could touch her ashikabi again. "It's my job to keep _you_ safe."

"I'm trying to protect you from me-"

"No!" Masukagami clutched Avaron close to herself. "Don't do that! I want all of Avaron-sama! Don't leave me ever again! I don't care if you hit me or step on me or yell at me! I know the real Avaron-sama!"

"The real me?"

"Even if you hurt me one day I know the real Avaron-sama still wants me..." Masukagami sniffled. She had to believe it was true. "I can wait until you love me." She couldn't wait, it was all she wanted, but wait she would. She'd wait an eternity and a million forevers until she heard the three words she always imagined passing through Avaron's lips spoken in reality.

"I must be a terrible ashikabi if you have to say that," Avaron whispered.

"No! Masukagami was lonely before she met Avaron-sama. Avaron-sama told me I was perfect. The thing that makes me happiest is Avaron-sama. I-I know I'm not really perfect, I make mistakes and make Avaron-sama mad... but I will always want to be with Avaron-sama, I-"

"I know," Avaron stopped her. "Shall we... spend some time together?"

**. . .**

Oriha needed to be fast. She couldn't afford witnesses. She knew Benitsubasa was already suspicious and god forbid Sukaime got curious. Fortunately she was pretty sure Kaie didn't care about her comings and goings or things would have been much more annoying. A third set of eyes to tip-toe around would have been truly aggravating.

It was morning and Madoka and Kaie had just left, making Kaie's level of giving a crap irrelevant, and Benitsubasa and Sukaime were busy eating the breakfast she'd made for them. That gave her a little time to make her way to her sleeping bag while they weren't looking. She reaching into the sleeping bag and rooted around through the folds in the material before her fingertips brushed against a small, rectangular object. She pulled it out and, sure there were no witnesses, pulled at the collar of her shirt and stuffed it down between her breasts. Part of her hated that she was using the idea Sukaime's perverted mind had come up with, but it really was a convenient hiding place for things she didn't want people to see.

With her sneaky deed taken care of, she headed for the front door. There was no hiding that she was up to something, but if all went well it wouldn't matter. She'd accomplish her goal before anyone knew what she was up to.

**. . .**

"She's doing it again," Sukaime said between bites of food.

"Yep," Benitsubasa muttered.

"This will be day six of her sneaking around," Sukaime noted.

"Yep."

"You really don't care?"

"She's not visiting Madoka behind our backs, why should I?" Benitsubasa shrugged.

"She could be plotting something. Something that could put her way ahead of us in terms of getting Madoka's attention," Sukaime suggested, though she didn't sound especially concerned herself. It did give Benitsubasa pause though. She could, barely, live with Kaie being part of their group, but if Oriha was plotting something like that... and if she succeeded...

"Mph, yeah right. What could she possibly do? She's not that smart," Benitsubasa huffed and tried to ignore that idea. Besides, Madoka would just yell at her if she broke Oriha's kneecaps. "And shut up."

"I didn't say anything!"

"You were going to."

"True."

**. . .**

Madoka was walking home with Kaie, something that he'd gotten used to and comfortable with. Also, Kaie had found a new route for them to take home, something he was thankful for. It was longer, but he didn't mind. They hadn't been mugged yet, so that was a good sign. However, with his sekirei, he had a feeling a mugging would be more hilarious than anything.

Strangely, though, Benitsubasa and Sukaime showed up as usual to walk with him, but Oriha didn't. Kaie took notice, but wasn't especially concerned, and Benitsubasa unsurprisingly didn't miss the competition for holding his hand. Though, now that he though about it, it was still three sekirei to his two hands. He wondered why Kaie never tried to hold his hand or link arms. He wasn't going to complain, it would just spark a jealousy match, but it was an oddity in his mind.

He got home and immediately he could smell food. Now he knew why Oriha had stayed home. It had been a long time since he'd come home and had a full meal waiting for him. Not since his high school days when he'd still lived with his parents.

"Well, that smells good," Madoka's lips twitched in the direction of a smile. Oriha popped out of the kitchen/dining room and gave a tiny bow.

"The table's all set, go ahead!" The dress clad sekirei smiled.

"Woo! Awesome!" Sukaime didn't waste time heading in. Benitsubasa wasn't as vocal about her enthusiasm, but it was no secret that she enjoyed food and was hot on Sukaime's heels.

"Thank you, Oriha-san." Kaie nodded and joined them.

"What's the occasio-" Madoka was cut off as Oriha stopped him from following them by grabbing his arm and dragging him out of the house.

"Quiet!" Oriha whispered harshly. He soon found himself outside with a confused look on his face. His confusion doubled when she began leading him to the stairs that led up to the empty second floor apartment.

"OK, OK! Whoa! No witnesses anymore, what's up?" Madoka tried to free himself.

"No questions!" Oriha frowned. "Up!"

"Err, all right." Madoka glanced at her nervously before heading up the stairs. He found the door at the top unlocked. Had Oriha found the key? She must have since the door was still intact, but what was she up to?

That question was answered when he found a blanket spread across the floor in what was supposed to be the living room with an unlit set of candles in the middle. He immediately knew what she had done. He shook his head and smirked before looking back to find her blushing madly.

"They're going to wonder where we are," he told her.

"Th-then we'll whisper so they don't know we're up here... a-and walk quietly," Oriha told him, but for good measure turned around and locked the door. He decided to go along with it, he knew she must have put a lot of work into her plan. He had to wonder how she'd pulled it off, though. He didn't own candles, and he didn't recognize the blanket either. "Umm, s-sit! I'll be there in a moment!" She wasn't doing a good job of whispering, but he didn't think they'd hear her, so he obeyed and sat down on the blanket and waited.

Oriha soon returned carrying two large plates stacked with food. It looked and smelled better than anything he'd ever seen her make before. He'd also never get over seeing small girls easily carry large, unwieldy objects. Sekirei had their hilarious qualities at times.

"Sorry, I didn't know what you were planning or I'd have dressed up." Madoka chuckled. "Candle lit dinner?"

"I-I... well... I don't mind..." Oriha put down the food and sat opposite him. Her body was tense as she sat on her knees, hands stuffed between her legs, eyes avoiding his.

"Of course, it only counts if you actually light the candles," he reminded her. Her eyes went wide and she jumped. Embarrassment was plastered over her face as she frantically scrambled to her feet and ran out of the room. She came back with a matchbook and quickly lit the candles before retaking her spot, just as stiff and uncomfortable as before. Meanwhile he was trying not to collapse in a fit of laughter. She was too cute at the moment.

"So, are we going to eat?" he asked. Oriha nodded, but didn't move. "Oriha, look at me." She obeyed immediately, apprehension clear in her eyes. "Relax. I didn't turn into a monster over night. I'm going to eat the food you made, not you." He grinned, amused at her antics. She was so nervous, but it was endearing. Sitting there with her was bringing back something he hadn't felt in a long time.

"S-sorry," she mumbled and gingerly took a pair of chopsticks that were set near the candles, and he took the other pair that was closer to himself. He took a bite and had to pause. "D-did I mess up?" Oriha asked, instantly noticing when he stopped.

"Ordering from a restaurant is cheating," Madoka frowned at her after he swallowed.

"I-I made it myself!" Oriha insisted.

"Bull!" Madoka said, but grinned. "Heh. You get better every day, don't you?" Finally Oriha smiled, but kept fidgeting nervously. Another oddity popped into his head. He knew for a fact he hadn't stocked this kind of food.

"S-so you like it?"

"Yeah, but can I ask how you did all this?"

"L-later!" Oriha raised her voice a little and then slapped her palm over her mouth. They waited, but it seemed their cover hadn't been blown.

"OK then." Madoka decided to let her keep her secrets for the time being. "Just promise me there were no criminal organizations or illegal loans involved."

"Of course not," Oriha muttered. Finally she started eating from her own plate as he continued with his. An awkward silence began to grow before Oriha asked a question. "Um, what is this place?"

"The second floor?" Madoka asked and she nodded. "It's the same as downstairs where we live, but take a look." He pointed at a corner of the room where the walls and ceiling were black. "This floor lit on fire a few years back. The landlord couldn't afford to fix all the damage and lost the place. It was so cheap I just bought the whole place and fixed what little damage there was to the bottom floor and made sure that there were no water leaks up here. Well, when I say I bought it I mean I paid for less than half and my parents covered the rest."

"You had a job before you came here?"

"Same place I work now. My high school wasn't really that accepting of students having jobs, but you won't tell on me right?" Madoka grinned. "Or do, I don't care. I'm free of their clutches now." Finally Oriha started to relax and giggled. "I've had this place for just over a year now. Moved in during my last two months of school and now it's just parties every day and girls everywhere. The life of a bachelor."

"Wh-what? Girls?" Oriha went paler than she already was.

"I'm talking about you four." Madoka winked.

"O-oh..." Oriha sighed in relief. She started blushing when the fact that he'd winked at her sunk in.

**. . .**

"Benitsubasa. Dear. Darling. Sweetie. Stop playing with your food," Sukaime spoke up. Benitsubasa just glared at her. She'd been fidgeting; just pushing her food around her plate and not eating it. "Eat up like a good little girl." This time Benitsubasa's fist slammed down on the table.

"Where the hell is he? He and Oriha disappeared! They're up to something! He's... he's... DAMMIT!" Benitsubasa exploded, reaching her boiling point. Her mind was racing with thoughts of what Madoka and Oriha might be doing alone together wherever they were.

"Don't worry. I'm sure they're just making out furiously in a fit of heated passion." Sukaime waved her concerns off casually. "Eat, we can have a public hanging later."

"I can't eat! I'm going hunting!"

"Bring me back some breast meat," Sukaime told her.

"Wh-. . . ew." Benitsubasa shuddered as Sukaime bobbed her eyebrows.

"Leave it be," Kaie said.

"What?" Benitsubasa frowned at her.

"So what if he is with Oriha? You don't know why or what they're doing. Perhaps she is doing something, so let her have her chance. By now I'm sure you've had yours. You should trust your ashikabi to decide who he wants. Do you doubt yourself so much that you can't trust him to be alone with anyone else?" Kaie asked. "Did you waste your chance?"

"N-no! Shut up! Go to hell, that's stupid! Madoka's mine! Stupidity like that is why _you_ aren't even going to _get_ a chance!" Benitsubasa shouted. She then turned to Sukaime. "Shut up!"

"I... grr, you're no fun anymore." Sukaime sighed. "But I agree with Kaie. Let's just wait it out and see what happens. We should trust Madoka. It's not like she'll get a lead on _us_."

"He just broke a promise to us! Why should I?"

"That's my fault. He didn't have any other option. Don't blame him for that," Sukaime replied, sounding more subdued.

"Yeah? Well now we're stuck with _that_!" Benitsubasa pointed at Kaie. "So the next time you feel like playing hero, just do me a favor and stab yourself in the face with that stupid... that... _thing_!"

". . . javelin," Sukaime mumbled.

"Die."

**. . .**

It wasn't long before the food dried up and he immediately began missing it. That said, he was too full to eat more even if there had been any left.

With the food gone, Oriha had moved over so she was sitting next to him. The tension in her body was back. It didn't help that they could hear his other three sekirei getting a little rambunctious downstairs. Though, he had to say they were probably safe. If Benitsubasa knew where they were, she'd have broken down the door by now. Fortunately a silence came and it wasn't followed by any doors slamming, so he wasn't too worried.

"Come on, relax. I should be the nervous one here. You have me in a locked room alone and vulnerable." Madoka laughed. Oriha seemed shocked at the implications and turned away, face red as could be. "Sorry, sorry," he said when he realized he wasn't helping.

"N-no, I'm sorry. I'm not good at this. I don't know what I'm doing. I'm ruining everything," Oriha whimpered.

"No you're not. I'm enjoying this. I never really get _any_ of you just one-on-one for very long." Well, except Kaie, but that was at work so he didn't feel it counted. He couldn't remember the last time he spent any time with just Oriha. He was pretty sure he never had, not since he'd walked her home for the first time.

"B-but we didn't do anything. We barely even talked. I finally got you alone and I made a mess out of it! I-I let you get hurt when it was my job to protect you. I-" Madoka had to stop her, grabbing her face and squishing it leaving her with fish lips and a confused look in her eyes.

"I thought we went over this." He stared at her for a moment before letting her go.

"B-but I keep thinking about it and I don't f-feel any better," she sniffled, staring down at the blanket they sat upon. "What if it happens again? What if I'm not good enough?"

"Oriha, you've saved all of us more than once. Why are you worried?"

"Because I'm not important enough! When have I actually won a fight? Benitsubasa's the strong one, Sukaime is always talking to you, and Kaie works with you every day! What about me?" Oriha bit her lip, immediately turning away from him after her outburst. "A-all I do is cook..."

Madoka didn't know what to say. The longer he spent with them, the more he realized how fragile they all were. Superhuman, though not exactly human, they may have been, but they were still girls with enough tangled up emotions to strangle a spider.

"The o-one time it was all my job to protect you, I failed. When I'm not standing behind everyone else I'm useless! I can't even apologize right!" Oriha started to cry.

"Then go ahead. I'll be quiet," Madoka whispered. Oriha looked up at him, lip jutting out in a massive pout before she threw herself at him.

"I-I'm sorry!" This time he didn't stop her, didn't try to _make _her feel better and bury her feelings. When she finally started to quiet down she pulled away. "I-it r-really is r-ruined," she hiccuped and wiped her eyes.

"Hm?"

"Everything. Th-the... date..."

"What are you talking about? It went perfectly. Good food and we had a good... conversation," Madoka told her. Well, maybe conversation wasn't the right word, but he was trying to make things look good. Oriha didn't respond right away, going quiet and fidgeting.

"N-not perfect." She glanced around furtively and kept fidgeting, face red and not because she'd been crying.

"What?"

"W-well... if it was a d-date... then..." Oriha still wouldn't look him in the eye. And then it hit him and his eyes went wide. While not a requirement, many dates ended with a kiss. Oriha was a sekirei, so she'd want a kiss. "N-never mind. W-we should go before they come looking." Oriha scrambled to her feet like a scared rabbit but his hand grabbed her elbow and pulled her back.

Oriha lost her balance and fell back. Twisting on her way down, she landed on Madoka's chest, faces only an inch apart.

"M-M-Madoka...sama?" Oriha's voice became tiny and incredibly high pitched.

"Well, you want it to be perfect, right?" Madoka asked, garnering a barely perceptible nod from the flustered Oriha. He knew what she wanted from him, her lips were so close to his and yet he felt himself hesitating. What was he doing? He empathized with what the girls were going through, he even cared about them, but this? He hadn't seen this coming. He hadn't woken up and said to himself "I want to kiss Oriha today." It wasn't that she wasn't attractive, but...

Then his eyes fell into hers and he couldn't pull them away. Huge, glistening discs focused only on him. She was so close her short, lavender locks fell down and tickled his cheeks. For the moment, nothing else existed, her face was all he could see and her body was all he could feel, her just ample enough chest pressing down on his. His hand released her elbow, slowly sliding up and taking hold of the fabric adorning her shoulder and pulled her yet closer. He could feel her shaking, hear the tiny gasp that escaped her.

He didn't know what he was doing. He couldn't name nor describe the emotion that was driving him at that moment. All he knew was that he wasn't letting her go just yet. He didn't think she wanted to anyway. He kissed her. Her tiny, soft lips were easily enveloped by his. He could feel feel her stiffen before going limp, her heart was speeding and pounding through her chest into his. He could smell the spices she'd been cooking with. He could taste them too. Her wings burst out, bathing the dim, candlelit room in violet light.

Something in him gave way. Something that had been holding him back. If he was going to kiss her, he might as well make it good. Suddenly it was like Oriha was magnetic, he felt he had to be closer. His arm went around her waist and his other hand dug into her hair, pressing her against him and deepening the kiss. He heard Oriha squeal in surprise before her arms wrapped around his neck. It felt like forever, going on until his lungs were on fire and he had to let go.

Oriha pulled away, sitting up on his stomach, cheeks red and eyes nearly glazed over. She was totally dazed. The corner of her lips kept twitching up into a smile before going back to hanging loosely apart. He couldn't stop himself. He started laughing uncontrollably. He laughed until Oriha fell off of him and his sides hurt and once again he risked suffocation. It certainly snapped Oriha back to reality.

"Wh-what is it? Was I that bad?" Oriha whimpered.

"No... you... you... you're just so damn cute!" Madoka said between gasping breaths. The look on her face after the kiss had been priceless. He wasn't sure how he'd expected her to respond to that. What she did do caught him off guard though. She threw herself back atop him and took the initiative in stealing a second kiss. He decided he didn't want to stop her. Once again the mood lighting was set to the violet glow from her wings. He felt her delicate, gloved hands gently hold his cheeks, her dainty legs hooked around his, blocking any escape attempt that he currently wasn't considering. She wasn't letting him go.

Finally, breathlessly, they parted once more as her wings faded away. Only then did she release him, untangling him from the folds of her dress. She just laid against his chest for a while, fingers lazily grabbing at his shirt.

Madoka took the time to think. What exactly did this mean? It wasn't as if he intended to pick Oriha over the others. He hadn't even been planning to pick any of them, not necessarily. Of course in the back of his mind he'd thought that maybe something would happen. He had four attractive girls out for his affection, a romantic development wouldn't exactly be surprising.

"_Benitsubasa is the strong one, but she's totally insecure."_ That was what Sukaime had told him. If she knew about this... what would happen? If he picked someone else over her, it would destroy her. But if he took Benitsubasa, wouldn't that in turn destroy the other three just the same? He didn't think even Sukaime could just take that with a straight face. But now he'd given in, even just once, to Oriha. If he pulled away from her, what would happen? He didn't imagine she'd take it well. He was at a loss.

"Um-" Madoka started, but Oriha's finger was place on his lips to silence him.

"Can I just pretend you're mine for a little longer?" Oriha asked. "I only wanted you alone for a little while... I know it's too soon to have changed your mind," she whispered, her grip on his shirt tightening. It seemed she'd given him an easy way out, though that was only one worry assuaged.

"Sure..." He placed a hand on her back as she lay there. She really was cute.

**. . .**

"I'm going to break something I swear..." Benitsubasa sat on the couch, arms and legs crossed. Her foot was tapping furiously as she impatiently waited for Madoka to return. She could care less if Oriha ever came back. In fact she'd better not at this point. It wouldn't be healthy for her.

"Hm. It has been a while now. Ah, but Madoka's not like that. He wouldn't give into her seduction, surely. I'm not sure if Oriha even knows _how_ to be seductive," Sukaime responded. "I mean, that tight little body of hers is nice and all, but she has no idea how to use it. It's a shame really."

"Shut up, pervert," Benitsubasa scoffed.

"Hey, I take offense to that. Don't tell me to shut up!"

They were interrupted when the front door opened.

"Speak of the devil..." Sukaime muttered and headed to the doorway to the entry hall, Benitsubasa right behind her.

"Hey," Madoka greeted and walked past. Oriha followed behind, a rosy complexion adorning her face and a blissful little smile as well.

"What the hell?" Benitsubasa gaped. Why did Oriha look so damn happy? She hated happy people!

"Shit. She totally got a lead on us." Sukaime frowned.

"You're dead to me..."

* * *

><p><strong>This chapter was pretty short, but that just makes it more digestible. Oriha really is such a cute little doll...<strong>

**(Fixed up in batch four of my edits.)**

**Til' next time!**


	21. I Hate Strangers

**Here's the next chapter. Enjoy.  
><strong>

**hadomaster: Thanks, I'm glad you think so! Thanks for the review!**

* * *

><p><strong>I Hate Strangers<strong>

It was painfully obvious that they knew. Benitsubasa was pretty much giving everyone in the house the cold shoulder, Sukaime was teasing Oriha relentlessly, though Oriha was for once barely phased, and Kaie was still Kaie. Well, it was nothing Madoka hadn't dealt with before. Benitsubasa had her moments all the time, it would pass and she'd get over it. Well, as long as she didn't find out any specific details about what had transpired last night. In short, breakfast had been an interesting affair.

Later at work he was left wondering if what had just happened was poorly timed. What happened being a text message from Avaron during work, and judging by the inordinate number of hearts and smiley faces framing it she was in a very good mood. It read: _Hello Madoka-kun. It had been too long since we've all gotten together. Would you mind calling Kouji and setting up a little meeting after you get out of work?_ The other half of the message had been the hearts and smiley faces. He really had no idea what to make of that. He was still trying to figure things out with his sekirei so he wasn't sure this was a good time to be dealing with Avaron.

And yet on his lunch break he found himself calling Kouji just as Avaron had asked. Awkward tensions or not, he did miss the two people he could actually call his friends a little. Sure he got along with his sekirei, even if they didn't get along with each other, but he needed friends who didn't want to kiss him all the time. Though, on that note, did Avaron still count? He sure as hell hoped Kouji did.

"So, you have other ashikabi friends?" Kaie asked as they stood outside after work. Since she'd only recently become his sekirei, he realized he wouldn't have talked to her about such things. Usually he only really talked to her at work anyway, which was too public for sekirei related topics.

"Yeah, Avaron and Kouji. They each only have one sekirei. Don't worry too much, they're all easy to get along with," Madoka told her. He wondered how Kouji would react this time. Last time he'd been surprised about Oriha. He had a feeling Kaie would elicit an even bigger response. He wasn't sure how he felt about that, receiving such recognition.

"That's good," Kaie said. "I never expected that sekirei from different ashikabi would be able to coexist. And then one of the first things I did after being winged was save another ashikabi's sekirei." Kaie smiled. "You've impressed me."

"Err, th-thanks I think. That's a good thing right?" Madoka asked. Kaie's smile faded.

"I hope so."

**. . .**

"Stop it!" Benitsubasa snapped. They were on their way to meet up with Madoka, but something was bothering her.

"I didn't do anything!" Sukaime replied in exasperation.

"Not you! Oriha! Stop being so damn happy! It's making me sick!" Benitsubasa growled. She didn't know why, but Oriha had been smiling non-stop since last night. It was starting to get under her skin.

"You're just jealous." Oriha adjusted her hair nonchalantly.

"Why should I be jealous?" Benitsubasa narrowed her eyes and Oriha giggled knowingly.

"Because you never have a reason to smile maybe? You're always angry."

"And what's your reason, huh?" Benitsubasa growled, baring her teeth and placing a hand on her hip as she blocked Oriha's path.

"Nothing," Oriha insisted sweetly, and just walked right around her. The ease with which she was ignored left Benitsubasa flabbergasted, standing in the middle of the sidewalk with jaw agape.

"Ooh, shut down!" Sukaime chortled.

"Shut up and walk!" Benitsubasa spun and kicked Sukaime in the rear.

"Ow! You need therapy! Jeez!" Sukaime pouted, but obeyed.

The three continued on in silence to find Madoka and Kaie waiting outside the store. Benitsubasa wasted no time, claiming one of Madoka's arms for herself expecting them to soon be on their way. No such thing occurred, and she found herself standing there, clutching his arm, with no sign that they'd be leaving soon.

"What are we waiting for?" Benitsubasa looked up at him.

"Avar-"

"WHAT?" Benitsubasa shouted. When had this happened? Was he making plans behind her back now? Why was she never told anything?

"Avaron wants us all to meet up. She messaged me at work," Madoka explained. "That includes Kouji and Namiji." OK so maybe he _hadn't _been hiding anything from her. That didn't make her like it any better.

"What for?" she grumbled. She'd gotten used to them _not _being around. Avaron had always bugged her for some reason, and not just because she was an ashikabi.

"Well it _could_ be because we're friends, but-" Benitsubasa cut him off with the deepest scowl she could manage.

"Oh you two, you're so cute. Especially you Beni-chan, trying to hoard him all to yourself!" Sukaime teased. Benitsubasa quickly rounded on her and clamped her hand around Sukaime's mouth, digging her fingernails into her cheeks.

"Never talk to me like that again!" she growled.

"Hey!" Madoka shouted, voice raised enough to make her flinch. Benitsubasa let go of Sukaime, but there were marks left where her nails had cut into Sukaime's skin.

"Wow, cranky much?" Sukaime clutched at her face.

"Sukaime, maybe don't provoke her today," Madoka said uneasily. Sukaime stared at him incredulously, but somehow Benitsubasa knew he wasn't done. She was next. "And you," Madoka narrowed his eyes at her. Sukaime calmed down, no longer looking the victim of favoritism. Benitsubasa just turned her head away, wishing she had pockets she could put her hands into. She didn't want to deal with another scolding right now. "Are you going to behave or do I have to send you home?"

"Hmph, stop talking to me like I'm a child!" Benitsubasa snarled. She was feeling angrier than usual that day, and against her better judgment she'd traded in her shovel for a jackhammer and was digging herself a nice sized hole at an astounding rate. She knew this, but she didn't feel like backing off.

"Then don't act like one!" Madoka's voice showed that he was just as confused by her actions as she herself was. No, he was confused, she knew exactly what her problem was. She just didn't want to do anything about it. Most people would pull their hand away if they leaned on a hot burner, but she felt like leaning all her weight onto it. The burner in this case was Madoka as she glared at him defiantly. All the anger she had roiling around suddenly found focus and stabbed out at him.

"Whatever, don't talk to me!" she bristled and stalked off to stand a few feet away. She wasn't leaving though, she didn't dare leave him unsupervised. She'd stop acting childish when he stopped acting like a horny teenager. She had no idea what exactly happened with him and Oriha, but she didn't need to. It was obvious _something_ had happened.

**. . .**

"Somebody's in trooouuu-bllleee~!" Sukaime announced sing-song. "And it's not her." She turned her gaze on Madoka, causing him to shrink away as if she'd lit on fire.

"Wh-why me?" Madoka stared back at her uneasily. Sukaime felt a little of her old self resurface as she saw Madoka looking vulnerable. He had no idea what was going on. No, yes he did, and he was terrified.

"You know why," Sukaime giggled with a tiny smile. His grimace told her everything she needed to know. She was feeling a little sadistic at the moment, and for once she had no desire to torture Benitsubasa. That left Madoka, since Oriha was in her untouchable state of nirvana. She didn't have to say anything more though, she just had to keep on smiling her knowing little smile and Madoka would cringe every time she looked at him. It was wonderful. She felt awful.

**. . .**

Madoka was cringing. First Benitsubasa, then Sukaime. Kaie wasn't helping him either. She wasn't getting on his case, but she kept quiet throughout the incident. He felt a little better when Oriha quickly made her way to his side and hugged him around the waist. At the same time, he had a feeling her showing him affection in front of the others wasn't going to ease tensions.

"Stop being mean to Madoka-sama!" Oriha yelled at the others.

"Don't worry, I'm sure we can find ways to torment you too, little miss sunshine," Sukaime told her. "Because I can be _so_ much meaner." Madoka was inclined to believe her. Finally, thankfully, at that moment it seemed Kaie had seen enough.

"Can we all calm down? It would be embarrassing if we were to be seen like this when Madoka's friends arrive," Kaie said.

"Fine fine, let's keep up appearances. Benitsubasa's fine though, they expect her to be cranky." Sukaime ran a hand through her hair, as if adjusting it to make sure it was perfect. Madoka was wondering when they'd all finally start to get along. Would it ever happen? While hardly best friends, they'd seemed to find a sort of contented peace for a little while, but it seemed jealousy had destroyed that. He was at a loss as to what to do, but right now he could do nothing.

"Hey, it's been a while!" Kouji was here. "Who's your... friend..." It was a question turned stunned realization as Kouji slowed to a halt and stood there slack-jawed at the sight of Kaie. It was hard to say if he was surprised that Madoka had _another _sekirei, or if he was just caught off guard by her full figure. Certainly fuller than Madoka's previous three sekirei. When Madoka caught a glimpse of Kaie shifting uncomfortably under Kouji's gaze, he figured he should speak up.

"Yeah, you missed a few things." Madoka chuckled and shuffled his feet.

"I'll damn well say I did, who is _she_?" Kouji asked, wide eyed.

"She's a new sekirei, obviously," Namiji grabbed Kouji's arm, trying to snap him out of his daze. Judging by the way Kouji flinched, he'd realized how much he'd been ogling Kaie – in front of his own sekirei.

"Yeah, it was kind of an unplanned thing," Madoka explained, a nervous quiver in his voice. He didn't know why he felt embarrassed. At the same moment he saw Kaie shrink back a little, face turning away. "B-but so were the rest of them, right?" He caught Kaie's lips twitch towards a smile for a second, but in the end it seemed that hadn't helped much.

"Madoka-kun, did you just admit we're all mistakes? How irresponsible!" Sukaime stuck her tongue out at him.

"Yeah yeah, I should have worn a mouth condom." Madoka shook his head.

"Oh and now you regret us, huh?" Sukaime gave an exaggerated frown.

"This is getting dangerously close to a father-daughter metaphor which would make things really awkward for you," Madoka told her. "Just warning you."

"Ah, touche sir, touche." Sukaime nodded slowly and gave a small bow.

"So, you always have that much fun with each other?" Kouji asked.

"Totally." Madoka decided to avoid that line of questioning. "So, I take it you haven't seen Avaron? This meet-up _was_ her idea."

"Nope, I just came when I was told to," Kouji replied, as he'd expected. Maybe Avaron was just busy fixing her hair or some other girly thing and was running late.

"Oh no, she's running late, pity that," Benitsubasa chimed in dourly off from the side where she stood inspecting her fingernails apathetically. She didn't even bother to look in their direction, seeming content to let the back of her head represent her.

"She hates when people run late. Less people for her to be mean to," Sukaime said. Madoka was half inclined to believe her. However, a moment later the two women in question turned a corner and came into view.

"I see I'm here last, did you wait long?" Avaron asked when she reached them.

"N-" Madoka tried to speak, but...

"If you're going to be a pain in my ass at least be on time!" Benitsubasa yelled, even turning around this time. It looked like it was going to be one of those days. "I hate people who are late!"

"I'm sorry, it's just been so long since we've made the walk we couldn't quite remember how long it took," Avaron took Benitsubasa's stormy reaction in stride.

"But we're here now, right?" Masukagami smiled cheerily.

"No!" Benitsubasa snapped at Masukagami. "Don't make excuses! Just aim to be ten minutes early and you'll never be late!"

"Wow, that's actually really smart, who taught you that?" Masukagami asked, looking more fascinated by Benitsubasa's unexpected words of wisdom. Madoka hadn't seen it coming either.

"S-someone. It doesn't matter! Just stop being late! The sooner you arrive the sooner you can go!" Benitsubasa was always aggressive, but she should have at least been somewhat used to Avaron and Masukagami by now, enough so that she could at least make some attempt to behave. He was pretty sure this was his fault. That said, there was suddenly something beneath all that aggression. He was wondering who "someone" was.

"Why do you want us to go? We just got here!" Masukagami cocked her head to the was going to be a long day.

**. . .**

"Oh, I see what's going on here," Sukaime whispered to Benitsubasa, causing the girl to glance at her. "She's trying to be dumber than you. Strong showing!" She had to dodge a jab from Benitsubasa's elbow.

"Benitsubasa, calm down-" Madoka spoke up. Sukaime winced apprehensively.

"Don't tell me to _calm down_! You expect me to be calm just because you tell me to? Never tell me to calm down! I don't just... I don't... fuck off!" Benitsubasa crossed her arms and turned away.

"Hm. That actually went a little better than expected." Sukaime nodded slowly. "I think her rage actually melted her brain. Poor thing. She didn't have much to begin with."

"I SWEAR TO GOD!" Benitsubasa charged at her and she took off running. She heard Madoka say something about them acting like children. Oh well, children had fun right?

Running didn't remain easy for long. It was the end of the work day and the streets were filling up. She ducked around one group of pedestrians and then slid through a gaggle of school girls, flipping a skirt for the hell of it as she did. If she was going to be a child, she might as well go all out.

"Heh, stripes." She grinned perversely and then turned on her heel to keep running. Benitsubasa wasn't making it easy on her. Committing the panty shot to memory may have cost her dearly. There were too many people on the sidewalk. It was time to parkour.

She turned towards the street and jumped deftly onto a small rail with bicycles chained to it and ran across the narrow surface to avoid the crowds. She did a front flip, purely for style points, off the other end and then kept running, jumping over a small advertisement sign as she went. A quick glance over her shoulder showed that her stunts hadn't shaken Benitsubasa.

For her next trick she jumped onto a fire hydrant and then pushed off and up onto a parked box-truck. She vaulted off the other end of that and kicked off of a nearby light pole, completely over the heads of the crowd of pedestrians below, and landed on top of a vending machine.

"Ha!" She turned around... to see Benitsubasa easily copying her. "Oh shi-" she quickly slid down off the vending machine, just as Benitsubasa landed on the now wobbling contraption. When Benitsubasa jumped off, it tipped and began to fall. "Crap!" She didn't know why, but she decided she'd have felt bad if it crashed, and on instinct jumped under it to catch it. It was a lot heavier than it looked and her knees nearly buckled. Her knees were slowly bending under the weight of the machine that would have crushed most people her size flat in an instant.

And then suddenly the weight was gone and with a bang and a rattle the machine rocked back into place, bouncing off the wall behind it before settling back where it was supposed to be. Sukaime turned to see Benitsubasa standing there, one arm outstretched, having shoved the vending machine back upright in one go... with one arm.

"Hmph, show off!" Sukaime scoffed.

"It's what I do," Benitsubasa shrugged, not looking overly concerned. "Besides, I wanted the satisfaction of-" She was interrupted by scatted clapping that soon broke out into applause. They'd totally forgotten that they had witnesses who had seen not only their athletic stunts, but their little feat of strength with the vending machine.

"Yeah... You can break my legs later, we should go back to Madoka," Sukaime said under her breath as she gave the crowd a feeble wave.

**. . .**

"In front of _how _many people?" Madoka looked ready to have a stroke.

"Oh, you know, just a few... dozen," Sukaime laughed nervously. But how bad had it really been? She was mostly sure that MBI wouldn't show up to cut off his head over something like that. It wasn't like _he_ had said anything to anyone he wasn't supposed to. Technically no one had said anything. They'd simply displayed inhuman abilities in front of a large crowd.

"I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die..." Madoka muttered frantically under his breath, pacing back and forth and running his hands through his hair.

"It's fine, they all thought it was cool. They probably thought we were making a movie or something!" Sukaime tried to reassure him.

"A movie? Really?" Benitsubasa crossed her arms. "No one would put you in a movie."

"I dunno, she seems like she'd be a good actor," Kouji chuckled.

"Don't encourage her!" Madoka and Benitsubasa shouted in unison.

"Heh, if that hadn't been so cute, my feelings would be really hurt here," Sukaime smirked at the two who were left blushing.

"You know, Ikki thought it might have been a movie too, what with all the applause, but I knew better." Their conversation, such as it was, was interrupted as an unknown pair walked over to them. One wore a thin, woolen jacket and had dark hair, and the other had some of the nicest thighs Sukaime had ever seen. She was still working her way up to the girls face. He breasts confirmed she was indeed female.

Her evaluation was cut short by a foul smell that left her coughing. The guy smoked.

"Gah, dammit, p-put that thing out!" Sukaime wheezed. "I have sensitive lungs!"

"My apologies, I didn't' realize sekirei could have things such as 'sensitive lungs,'" the young man said and humored her, stomping his cigarette out.

"You have ten seconds to explain who you are," Benitsubasa warned them, cracking her knuckles.

"Well, he's an ashikabi, that's a given," Madoka narrowed his eyes suspiciously, hands in his pockets. Sukaime knew he was white-knuckling even if she couldn't actually see his knuckles.

"Obviously, so why are you interrupting our meeting?" Even Avaron looked a little hostile as she spoke. Normally she was exceedingly pleasant, but Sukaime had always felt something was off about her, so she found she wasn't surprised to see that Avaron could so quickly throw on a different face.

"Well the fact that you three are meeting is exactly it! Three ashikabi, meeting, conversing and not having their sekirei tear each others throats out. I'm intrigued. You don't have to worry, I'm not so foolish as to throw my sekirei away. It's six-to-one odds after all. I don't want any part of that," the stranger explained.

"So what _do_ you want? Wait, never mind, your ten seconds are up. Leave or I start breaking things!" Benitsubasa growled. During this Sukaime had gotten a chance to look over the sekirei girl, Ikki. The most noticeable feature was that adoring those fine, fine thighs were tights and tall boots. The boots went up to and a little past mid thigh and had huge 19's printed on them. Sukaime assumed that Ikki was number 19. Out of 108 that was pretty low, but she had no idea if number placement mattered much past the single numbers. Being a sekirei didn't mean she knew that much about them. Past that she had a Chinese-style shirt with no sleeves and a high collar, black gloves that covered her wrists as well, short, black hair, and dark blue eyes. In short, she was a little plain, as far as sekirei went, but with a bombshell body. Then again, while Madoka seemed good at finding all the outliers, "bombshell bodies" weren't exactly rare among sekirei.

Ikki narrowed those dark blue eyes at Benitsubasa's threat, but otherwise made no move to attack. Considering the aforementioned six-to-one odds, that was probably wise.

"Benitsubasa, enough, I'll handle this. Please?" Madoka looked down at her. Benitsubasa just threw her arms up and turned to walk a short distance away.

"Well, angry, but obedient, eh?" The stranger commented.

"Usually." Madoka shrugged. "So, answer her question. What do you want?"

"I want in of course. Why else would I take such a risk?" he told them. "But I should introduce myself, shouldn't I? I'm Masayuki, a pleasure to make your acquaintance." He gave them an extravagant bow, crossing one arm over his chest and dropping his head down low.

"Eh? People still talk like that?" Sukaime raised an eyebrow in surprise and glanced at Madoka to make sure he was seeing it too. His perplexed expression told her indeed he was.

"Stop that," Madoka grumbled and waited for Masayuki to right himself. "You want 'in?' Why?"

"Well, Ikki is a fine sekirei, but she is only one sekirei among over a hundred. Sure, the number has dwindled somewhat, but we're still grievously outnumbered. Then I see you three, a trio of ashikabi playing nice. Like I said, I'm intrigued. Though, if you're not accepting new members, I can go," Masayuki explained. "No harm done, yes?"

"NO!" Benitsubasa spoke up as expected. Sukaime had been counting the seconds from the moment Masayuki had said he wanted in. "No more! I can't even stand the ones we already have hanging around! I swear to god I _will _kill this one!"

"It's your ashikabi's decision, not yours. A good sekirei is obedient," Ikki spoke, nearly emotionless as she did. The way she talked, Sukaime almost wanted to give her a hug just to see what would happen.

"A good sekirei kills as many other sekirei as possible!" Benitsubasa argued.

"I don't like it either!" Oriha threw in her opinion.

"No, it _is_ Madoka's decision," Kaie took the other side of things. Sukaime froze, body going stiff and heart racing. No, not again, she didn't want to be the tie breaker again! She didn't want it to come down to her word! It had been a narrowly averted disaster last time! Well, this was just them arguing over whether or not it was Madoka's decision, right? In the end it would be up to Madoka, then she'd be free of any blame, one way or the other.

"Yeah, j-just let Madoka decide! We should trust him!" Sukaime blurted out a little louder than was necessary. Well, there went all the effort she'd put into making Madoka uncomfortable.

"It's not just up to me, Avaron and Kouji have a say too," Madoka replied.

"Ah, well, now I know all your names. Nice to meet you," Masayuki grinned.

"Yep, because sekirei don't count!" Sukaime nodded.

"Ah, my apologies, of course you count, but the question is, will I be around long enough for introductions to really matter?" Masayuki stared at Madoka questioningly. Madoka sighed.

"Well?" Madoka glanced to Avaron and Kouji in turn.

"I'm not sure. How can we trust him?" Avaron asked.

"Well, as much faith as I may have in Ikki's fighting abilities, she couldn't beat all of your sekirei alone. I'm not really sure what benefits I could hope to gain by lying my way in here," Masayuki countered.

"He makes a good point. I mean, you let me and Namiji stick around and we tried to fight you. Why _not_ give him a chance?" Kouji offered his opinion.

"Nobody likes you!" Benitsubasa shouted.

"Nobody likes _you_," Sukaime stuck her tongue out. "Shush dear, grown-ups are talking."

"_Both_ of you be quiet!" Madoka groaned, placing a hand on his forehead. He looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel. "Kouji has a point though. Avaron?"

"It's true," Avaron said. She was quiet for a while but finally gave a barely perceptible nod. "I'll risk it. It's your call now, Madoka-kun." Madoka turned to Masayuki, and then slowly held out a hand.

"All right, welcome to the club, I guess," Madoka said and Masayuki shook his hand.

"Fantastic! So, shall we have those introductions now?" Masayuki grinned widely.

**. . .**

"I-"

"Can't believe Madoka would do this again. This is so stupid. Insert various expletives here. Yes, we get it. You are so predictable I can't stand it! You're actually starting to bore me. I mean, sure, you tried to turn the tables and start cutting _me_ off, but that won't be amusing for very long," Sukaime interrupted Benitsubasa's impending rant with one of her own. She watched as Benitsubasa stood there slack-jawed, trying to figure out what to say next. There meeting had been cut short after Masayuki had showed up. They'd instead just agreed on when they'd meet next so they could get to know Masayuki, or just Yuki, better. Now they were back home and Benitsubasa was taking her chance, or at least trying, to vent. Sukaime didn't really want to hear it though.

"I-I..." Benitsubasa stuttered and then frowned deeply. "You're a bitch, you know that?"

"Mhm, but so are you. It's why we're so perfect together." Sukaime winked.

"Remember how I hit Oriha?" Benitsubasa suddenly changed the subject.

"Err, yeah?" Sukaime didn't like where this was going.

"I don't think I've ever hit you." The pink-haired sekirei cracked her knuckles. Now she _really_ didn't like where this was going.

"Ah, b-but of course you have. The incident with the pillows and-"

"Doesn't count." Benitsubasa's expression was now holding far too much malice for Sukaime to be comfortable.

"You wouldn't! T-too many witnesses! I'll have Madoka sic Kaie on you!" she threatened. Benitsubasa didn't even pause for a moment. Suddenly she had Benitsubasa's hand clamped around her throat.

"Stop playing with me!" Benitsubasa growled darkly. "I don't think you realize how hard it is for me to tolerate you! Everyone is always complaining about how I barely 'behave!' You don't realize how much I'm holding back every moment of every day! It's sickening to look at you all the time, seeing you act like we're friends! We're not, understand?" Her grip tightened and Sukaime felt herself choking. This was bad. Masayuki's arrival had pushed Benitsubasa over the limit. Madoka sneaking off with Oriha had already made things dangerous. That had been poorly timed, so soon after Kaie being winged.

"L-l-" She couldn't talk, Benitsubasa's grip was too tight.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa felt Sukaime's neck beneath her fingertips. She could calculate how much more it would take to crush her throat. She could feel Sukaime choking, feel her struggling to breathe. She felt the rage and hatred burning inside herself. It was wrapped so tightly around her heart and it hurt. She needed to make someone else hurt. She needed to aim it all at someone else.

She needed all the hate to come out so she could breathe again. She wanted to let it all out on Sukaime. Nothing was happening. She squeezed, she ranted and raved, but nothing came out, it was still locked inside her. She looked at Sukaime's struggling face, saw the glint of fear in her eyes and she should have taken joy in that, but she didn't. She watched the sweat drip down her face and glue her bangs to her forehead. She felt sick, she had to let go.

The burning hatred she felt had cooled into a heavy lump that was weighing her down. She didn't know what was happening to her. Anger and hate were things she was supposed to understand. Right now she just felt confused, lonely, and cold.

"Leave me alone," she muttered as Sukaime clutched at her throat.

"Um, are you OK?" Sukaime asked hoarsely. Benitsubasa twitched and stared at her incredulously.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Go away!" she demanded. She would never understand Sukaime.

"If you say so."

**. . .**

"Seriously? Again with this?" Sukaime coughed. It was two days later, Saturday, and Ikki and her smoking ashikabi were back. So was everyone else.

"So, what do you all do together?" Masayuki asked.

"Sometimes we just talk," Avaron answered.

"Talking eh? It must be tiresome, this pair of blondes gossiping about you behind your back," Masayuki said.

"They don't, at least... I don't think," Avaron suddenly looked rather unsure. Madoka knew that had sort of been a shot at him, but the look on Avaron's face was too good, he had to laugh.

"Oh it's no laughing matter," Masayuki spoke up again. "I mean, look at you and those lovely, golden locks. Avaron here must be quite jealous. Such feelings aren't healthy. Then you go and talk about her behind her back, I'm surprised she hasn't shaved you bald in your sleep." Madoka frowned, as this time Avaron was the one laughing. Kouji too, but Kouji was close enough for him to reach out and smack in the back of the head. "Oh dear, it seems I've brought violence to a once loving relationship."

"OK, OK, we get it, you're hilarious," Madoka sighed, though it was taking some effort to keep himself from grinning. "Moving on?"

"Yeah, well, since he said he had so much confidence if Ikki's fighting abilities, I thought we could head back to the warehouses and find out," Kouji suggested.

"What's this now?" Masayuki looked confused.

"We have a place where we can have practice fights," Namiji explained. "Unless it's too soon."

"Not at all, I'm sure Ikki would love to test herself against you. I believe there was a little tension between her and Benitsubasa there. Perhaps a friendly chance to resolve it."

"No," Benitsubasa said adamantly. "Stay away from me. That wouldn't end well."

"I'm sure you can trust them, nothing's going to happen with everyone else here," Madoka told her. She needed to learn to be more trusting.

"That's not what you should be worrying about right now," Benitsubasa grumbled.

"What are y-" Madoka was cut off when Sukaime placed a hand on his arm and shook her head. Now he was worried. "Err, all right, sit this one out if you want."

"A shame, I would have liked to see what she had behind all those words," Masayuki said, earning a heated glare from Benitsubasa, and yet that was all. He was surprised, and impressed, to see that she didn't take the bait. Something wasn't right. He needed time to think about it, but he didn't have that time at the moment.

"You'll have to wait," Madoka told him firmly, he didn't want him to goad her again. If Benitsubasa didn't want to fight, then something was going on and he wasn't going to let her be harassed.

"Of course of course, no harm meant." Masayuki held his hands up in surrender. Well, to be fair, Benitsubasa had threatened Ikki once or twice. As long as he could just drop it for now he wouldn't hold it against him. "So, let us see these warehouses."

**. . .**

Once they were there and Masukagami once again showed off her ability to teleport past the fence, Kouji explained what exactly he had in mind.

"I figured we could have a sort of survival style, winner stays set up. One of them fights until they lose, then the winner from that fight stays until they lose or until no one wants to fight anymore," Kouji told them. "It shouldn't take long since Benitsubasa doesn't want to fight. It's possible that one of them won't even lose. So who wants to go first?"

"May I try?" Kaie asked. Madoka could have sworn she actually looked eager. He knew she wasn't a pushover now that she'd been winged, but he had no idea what her feelings were when it came to fighting. He was of the impression most sekirei didn't have any huge aversion to fighting, but he also didn't think that all sekirei were as aggressive as Benitsubasa.

"Uh, sure." Madoka nodded.

"That's it, I give up," Sukaime immediately took a step back.

"Err, I-I'll let someone else go," Oriha gulped and joined Sukaime. Madoka couldn't decide if it was funny or shocking that the two just immediately caved the second Kaie announced she wanted to fight.

"Well, that's quite interesting," Masayuki said. "Ikki, why don't you give it a go and see if there's a reason those two have lost their nerve."

"Of course." Ikki nodded and did the opposite of Sukaime and Oriha and stepped forward.

"This will be my first time." Immediately Sukaime giggled causing Kaie to frown and sigh. "Are there any special rules for a practice match? Besides the obvious no terminations."

"Well, try to keep the injuries to a minimum. No special rules really, it's all pretty obvious," Kouji explained.

"Understood," Kaie nodded. Ikki nodded in understanding as well.

"Everyone stand back, let's begin!" Kouji announced. The second everyone was out of the way, Kaie and Ikki began circling each other. In a flash, Ikki pulled out a pair of tanto style swords and rushed forward. Her advance was almost immediately halted when Kaie's whips cracked close to her face. Ikki wasn't going to have it easy getting close enough to attack.

Ikki quickly changed direction, but was once again was cut off by Kaie's whips lashing out and blocking her path. Ikki tried to immediately reverse direction completely, but with much the same results. Ikki tried to slash at the whips this time but this accomplished little. While she was busy with that, Kaie took her other set of whips and struck Ikki's ankle, trapping it and then pulling her off her feet.

Ikki quickly attempted to cut herself free, but Kaie pulled her whips away before they could be damaged. Now free, Ikki flipped to her feet and rushed at Kaie. This time, Ikki was just barely ducked one strike from Kaie, closing the distance enough to make it difficult for Kaie to lash at her. Well, that's what Madoka had thought anyway.

Kaie took a short hop back and pulled her right set of whips across in a horizontal slash. Ikki crossed her blades in front of her to block, but still stumbled from the impact.

"H-hey, uh, disarm her!" Madoka felt like Kaie could have figured that out on her own, but weren't whips good for that? It happened in movies. Well, when he thought about it like that he felt stupid. However, Kaie nodded. Just as Ikki set her feet after stumbling, Kaie lashed out with one set of her whips and caught Ikki's wrist and pulled her off balance, but she didn't drop her weapon. She moved to cut herself free with her other blade, but as she raised her arm, Kaie lashed out with her other set of whips and with a loud crack Ikki's other weapon was knocked out of her hand. That left her with one hand trapped and her other undoubtedly in pain.

"Give up, you won't get free before I hit you again," Kaie warned. Madoka could have sworn her expression hadn't changed once during the whole fight, and she stayed calm and rock-steady as she asked for Ikki's surrender.

"We'll have to give her this one, Ikki. No need to for you to get your pretty little face hurt trying to win just a practice match," Masayuki spoke up. "Well, that didn't last very long. She's good, you've got yourself a real winner there, don't you?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess," Madoka replied, scratching the back of his head nervously. Kaie was a little scary when it came to fighting. He was used to her when she was at work, head down, quiet, and diligent. This icy, emotionless fighter before him now was barely recognizable. But no, it made sense. He could see it. She was always in control emotionally. It was a mistake to confuse "quiet" and "gentle." She could be just as dangerous as Benitsubasa. The difference being that Benitsubasa was wild and explosive.

He was wrong about one thing though, and he realized it quickly. He'd made another mistake just then, and that was the uncertainty in his voice when he'd spoken. Kaie _was_ a winner, wasn't she? So what the hell had been with him and his answer? And for a moment in Kaie's eyes he could see the disappointment. He was an idiot.

"Winner stays, anyone else want to take their chances against her?" Kouji asked. The silence was tangible. Kaie was just plain scary.

**. . .**

In the end Namiji had taken her chances, but once again Kaie had won. Namiji wasn't fast enough, though she'd done a little better than Ikki. The power behind her weapon had helped her deflect Kaie's whips, but in the end her large weapon had been too big of a target and had also been her downfall. Kaie had managed her second win by once again disarming her opponent. After that no one was willing to step into the ring against her and they'd decided that their fun had been had and it wasn't worth sticking around and risking being arrested for trespassing.

After spending more time around Masayuki, Madoka had to admit a liking for him. He wasn't strange like Avaron, and he wasn't as awkward as Kouji could be. He was more confident and outspoken, something he knew he himself lacked.

As he got ready for bed, Madoka was wondering how much sleep he'd really be able to get. He had a couple things on his mind. He didn't want to regret the evening he'd spent with Oriha, but was the fallout really worth it? It was too late now though, shouldn't he just keep it as a happy memory and try to deal with the consequences as best he could? Wasn't that really his only option now anyway? He was nervous though, because if Sukaime of all people was getting on his case... he shuddered a little at the thought. With any luck, she'd already had her fun at his expense and was ready to forgive him.

Benitsubasa was a different story. He couldn't just wait that storm out. He'd have to make it up to her somehow. Would it start a vicious cycle though? Spend time with one sekirei, then spend time with another to make her feel better, but then leave the other three jealous of that one? He'd never get ahead. He wished they'd make friends, then maybe they could just talk it out amongst each other. Would they ever get along? He felt like Sukaime could do it, if only the others would let her. Some days it seemed like she and Benitsubasa actually got along, but then other days they were making a scene running through the streets.

He-

"Madoka-kun?" There was a light knock on his door before it was cracked open.

"I'm going to be naked one of these days and then it will be really awkward," Madoka said. Oh who was he kidding, they'd probably enjoy that. Well, Oriha might pass out, but that didn't mean she wouldn't still enjoy it. This time though, it was Kaie. She'd been another of the things worrying him, and that made him nervous. What did she want? "So since I'm not naked, what's up?"

"I was thinking," Kaie told him.

"It happens. Anything specific?" he asked, but she didn't respond, just looking around his room nervously.

"You," she finally said, almost blurting it out. It took him a moment to realize it was a delayed answer to his question.

"Um, me?" What about him? He couldn't imagine she'd have too much good to say right now. He tried, but he knew he consistently fell short. He knew he was needed in some capacity, but half the time he felt they'd be better off without him.

"What do you, err, th-think of me?" she asked. And here he'd been fretting over what she thought of _him_. This was far more complicated. Crap.

"Well, I'm not sure what you mean," Madoka struggled to make himself speak. He had a feeling she didn't want him to compliment her figure.

"I don't know where I... stand," she spoke quietly. "Everyone else has a place, I can see it even if they can't. I don't know about myself."

"Uh-"

"Benitsubasa was your first, and you and Sukaime are really close, and even Oriha... you two fit well together," Kaie explained. Madoka was left dumbstruck. He couldn't' argue with her. He trusted Sukaime, and when it came down to it, he'd winged Oriha because he'd been attracted to her. "I don't know about myself," Kaie continued. "Everyone else earned their place with you. I don't know if there's room for me."

"W-well come on, we work together every day," Madoka said, his voice shaking. It was a pretty pathetic answer, he knew.

"So do you and Asahi-san, but that doesn't mean she really matters to you," Kaie muttered, staring at the floor.

"It's not good enough, I get it." Madoka sighed. He liked Kaie, he just didn't know how much. He didn't know if he could honestly tell her what she wanted to hear. Kaie just shook her head.

"I'm sorry, I'm just troubling you, I should go," Kaie turned on her heel quickly. Madoka groaned quietly. He didn't know what to do. Then something inside him kicked, and hard. If it had been a real kick it would have hurt. As it was, it made him grab Kaie before she could leave the room.

"No, really, I get it," Madoka told her. Actually, he was pretty sure he did. He didn't think himself particularly smart, but somehow he thought he might have figured out part of what was bothering Kaie. "We've never really talked, have we? We don't talk much at work, and everyone else shows up for the walk home. Everyone else has had their chance."

"It's not about being even," Kaie muttered, looking away.

"Yeah, but we're together every day, and you still feel lonely, don't you?" Madoka said. He saw Kaie stiffen and knew he was right. He knew enough about sekirei by now to understand. She saw him every day but always felt like she had to keep her distance. It must have hurt to go through that day in and day out. He'd finally winged her, but she must still have felt distanced. "Come on." He took her hand and saw her blush. Her other hand went up to her lips and she bit a nail nervously, eyes flitting back and forth. He'd never seen her look quite so girly and vulnerable.

He brought her over to his bed and got onto it, sitting down and leaning against the wall and motioned for her to join him. Once she was sitting next to him, he put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.

"Uh... um..." she stammered quietly.

"Shh, just relax," he said softly. "Stop holding back so much." He felt her shiver and her fingers slowly crawled across his chest before grabbing onto his shirt. She moved so she could rest her head on his shoulder. Before long she was leaning against him heavily, and he could feel her relaxing, loosening up, allowing herself to get closer.

"Th-there was one other thing," Kaie spoke quietly, face turning redder.

"Yeah?" Madoka asked.

"It's just... I'm a little... different. I mean, umm... the others are so... uhh... I mean physically..." Madoka nearly hacked up a lung when he realized what she was getting at. "D-do you prefer-"

"St-stop! Stop! Don't worry about that. You're fine." In that case, both definitions of fine applied, but he didn't feel like making that fact clear was necessary. "Trust me, there's a reason Kouji was acting like a moron. I can see it too. I'm just not a moron." That made Kaie laugh, and it was a cute laugh.

"I'm glad."

Time passed and his eyelids began to get heavy. He'd lost track of time, only glad that he didn't have to work tomorrow. Kaie wasn't so much lying next to him as she was almost lying on top of him now, head having migrated from his shoulder to his chest

"Hey, um, you awake?" he said groggily, voice little more than a deep croak.

"Mhm," Kaie whispered.

"I hate to do this, but you should probably go. Mt. Benitsubasa is close enough to erupting as it is," he told her.

"I guess so," she didn't move though.

"Kaie..." he sighed. This time she slowly pulled herself off until she was standing. "And fix your hair. Let's not give the wrong impression."

"I wouldn't mind if we did," she smiled. He had to admit it was nice to see her with her hair down, so to speak.

"Fair enough, but..." Fortunately Kaie went along with it and ran her hand through her hair, returning a few loose strands to their rightful place.

"Goodnight, Madoka-kun," she said and walked out of the room.

"Yeah, goodnight." He let his breath out slowly. Things were getting complicated.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa couldn't sleep. Kaie was in his room. She'd been in there for hours. Her only consolation was that it was quiet and there wasn't any light pouring out from under his door, meaning they hadn't kissed. Even so, just sleeping in his bed was more than she could accept. Why, why should Kaie get to share his bed and she couldn't? Finally Kaie came out. Nothing seemed amiss, but that didn't tell her why she'd been in there so long. Kaie certainly looked happy enough, a casual sway to her walk that was different from usual.

"Fuck," Benitsubasa's voice came out a strained whisper. Her throat was tight and painful as she struggled to hold herself together. She bit down on her thumb until she was afraid she'd bite through it. She shut her eyes tightly and receded deeper into her sleeping bag, hoping it would bring her some measure of comfort, some feeling of security, but it didn't.

She glanced up in time to see Kaie looking down at her as she went to her own sleeping bag. Their eyes met for a moment and Kaie frowned, and then looked away as she climbed into her bag and went to sleep. How had this happened, how was it that she now felt like the outsider? She was his first, but everyone else had clawed their way into Madoka's life and pushed her aside.

"Fuck!" her voice cracked, but she wouldn't cry. She'd never cry. Crying was for people who gave up. She'd almost broken before, but not this time. She'd never admit to being beaten.

* * *

><p><strong>Poor Beni, she's falling apart at the seams! I'm a terrible person! But it's all part of my master plan to... well that's for you to find out next time!<strong>

**Also, as you can see, things have changed. Ikki is still alive because Yume never popped out to send Karasuba onto the war path!**

**Reviews!**

**RykOakwine: I don't think this chapter is going to be what you were hoping for, but maybe the next one? Who knows! Thanks for the review.**

**KenjakaTsukune: Thanks for accidentally reviewing twice? Haha. I dunno about a fight, but... stuff is definitely happening, and it's not over yet! As for names, I kinda just mashed Japanese words together. I think Sukaime means something like "Sky Orb" if I remember correctly, but it's been so long at this point. Thanks for the review! **

**Frayner: Sukaime is a mind ninja, what can I say? And cute is what I was going for! Thanks for the review!**

**ManlyMonk: Of course Oriha's not just there to be there! She's there to be freakin' adorable! Hmm, and I dunno if you'll get the effect you're hoping for, but you might like what I have in store for Benitsubasa. Thanks for the review!**

**Atrile: I'm glad you think so. Not sure about milestone, but important for sure! Thanks for the review!**

**WE'VE BROKEN 100 REVIEWS! I love you guys! And girls! **

****Follow this if you're interested, favorite if you liked it, and review it if you really liked it! I welcome both constructive criticism and kind words! Let's aim for 250 now!  
><strong>**

**Til' next time!**


	22. I Hate Demons

**I know I said I wanted to hit 250, but holy hell! I must have gotten over 30 reviews in one go! Sure, about 20 of them were from one person, but take away that and that's still more than usual! Yay!**

**Frayner: I think she's pretty much already broken. I mean, the scene with Sukaime shows just how twisted up she is inside. She threatened Sukaime once before, but that just ended in the pillow fight. I don't think I have to tell you that this was different.**

**Thanks for the review.  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>I Hate Demons<strong>

"Gooood morning!" Sukaime chirped along with the birds outside as the sun was rising.

"No," Benitsubasa scoffed. Why should she consider it good?

"No? Why no? That's not really an answer." Sukaime put her hands on her hips, a puzzled look on her face.

"It's not a good morning you idiot!" Benitsubasa growled as she rolled up her sleeping bag. "I hate idiots."

"That's hilarious." Sukaime rolled her eyes. "Hmm, but the morning just started, how can you say it's not good?"

"Because I'm pissed!" Benitsubasa snapped harshly enough to make Sukaime flinch.

"You're being surprisingly forthcoming today," Sukaime noted, edging away to give her some distance. "Hmm, let me guess, it's-"

"Kaie," Benitubasa grumbled and threw her sleeping bag into a corner with far more force than was necessary. Unfortunately, being a sleeping bag, that didn't result in a very satisfying impact.

"Ah. I figured as much." Sukaime nodded, hand on her chin thoughtfully. "I don't think you have anything to worry about. I'm a pervert and even I don't think anything happened. I mean, if _I_ can't imagine anything having happened, then you _know_ it's safe."

"It doesn't matter if anything 'happened!' She was still alone with him for hours!" Benitsubasa wanted her sleeping bag back so she could pulverize it, but then again she really didn't want to risk busting it open and sleeping on the hardwood floors again. "What makes her so damn special?"

"Someone's jealous!" Sukaime grinned.

"No shit!" Benitsubasa shouted. "Why are you still bothering me, do you want me to choke you again? Sick freak!"

"Hey, it's only sick if I say yes!" Sukaime crossed her arms. "You should be glad I still want to be in the same room with you after that!"

"Why?" Benitsubasa muttered deadpan. Sukaime raised a finger as if ready to give a poignant answer, but in the end lowered her hand without saying anything.

"Oh right, you hate everything. I forgot."

"Exactly, now get away from me," Benitsubasa hissed.

**. . .**

"You know, before you guys I didn't watch much T.V. I blame you if my mind rots," Madoka sighed and sat down on the couch. Benitsubasa was mad at him, but at the same time she didn't feel like letting the others hang all over him for the next two hours while they watched television, and so quickly took her spot next to him. For good measure she stretched out, taking up the entire couch and using his lap as a pillow.

"Make room!" Oriha complained and tried to move her feet and sit, but Benitsubasa just kicked her away.

"Pfft, you don't know how to handle her!" Sukaime waved Oriha off. She probably thought trying to sit on top of Benitsubasa would be funny, but instead Benitsubasa pushed her with sufficient force to throw her off her feet.

"Hey!" Madoka raised his voice. "What's your problem?"

"They can sit on the floor, I was here first," Benitsubasa muttered, knowing she was in trouble but not caring.

"You know what, I'll just find something else to do," Madoka sighed and removed her from his lap. Well, maybe she didn't have him, but now neither did anyone else. She'd take it.

"Wow." Sukaime shook her head. "I'm impressed." Not bothering to qualify that statement, Sukaime took her leave of the living room.

**. . .**

Madoka was on his way to work with Kaie the next day. Much to his surprise, Kaie actually decided to link arms with him, the most affection she'd ever chosen to show on a whim. He supposed after Saturday night, it wasn't that shocking. What was shocking was when he felt his other arm grabbed, and he was suddenly pulled away from Kaie. Somehow, even without looking, he just knew.

"Benitsubasa, what the hell? I'm on my way _to_ work! You're early," Madoka told her. Also, that had kind of hurt.

"Hmph, is this how you two walk to work _every_ day?" Benitsubasa glowered at Kaie, tightening her grip on Madoka's arm. "You weren't even supposed to wing her, and now you think that since you have you can just act like that?" Her voice steadily grew louder the more she spoke.

"Actually I thought I'd try something new today, is it bothering you?" Kaie asked. Madoka had a feeling Kaie wasn't trying to be as polite as her tone of voice suggested she was.

"OK, incredible rudeness aside, you realize you're setting yourself up for a lot of walking, right?" Madoka was hoping he could avoid an argument and just strongly hint that Benitsubasa should go back home. She wasn't having it.

"So? Do you have any idea how _boring_ it is to sit at home all day and deal with Sukaime? And torturing Oriha so she can't nap isn't fun anymore."

"Well you just need to find a hob- wait what about Oriha?" He really needed to work on his awareness.

"Pfft, don't worry. She's fine and I gave up once it got boring."

"You _really_ need a hobby." Madoka sighed. She also needed to loosen her grip. His arm was getting tingly.

"Like what? Everything costs money!"

"Well maybe if you didn't eat so much..." Kaie suggested.

"Are you calling me fat? Look at yourself before you say crap like that!" Benitsubasa shouted.

"I assure you I'm perfectly proportioned," Kaie replied calmly.

"You cocky piece of-"

"Cut it out!" Madoka groaned. Kaie's passive-aggressiveness wasn't helping. Benitsubasa's over the top aggressiveness was even worse. "Look, obviously this isn't working. You two aren't getting along-"

"She can go on ahead," Benitsubasa said. "Then I don't have to look at her." Madoka stopped walking and looked down at her.

"That's not what I was going to suggest." Benitsubasa looked back up at him, and her eyes narrowed, but it wasn't an angry look. He thought he saw her lips start to quiver, but then she turned her face down at the ground. She only tightened her grip and moved closer, pressing against him, it looked like she was going to be stubborn, but then she let go. Before he could say anything she took off running. "Dammit." He ran his fingers through his hair. He knew that he'd had to do something, but he wasn't happy with the result. He needed to deal with Benitsubasa, but she kept acting out in ways that made it hard to make peace.

"Shall we keep going?" Kaie took his arm gently, but he pulled away on his own this time.

"Yeah..."

"I-I'm sorry, I-"

"Don't worry about it," Madoka mumbled. He was just in a bad mood and he shouldn't have taken it out on her, but he also didn't feel like being clung too.

**. . .**

When they went to meet up with Madoka to walk him home that night, they instead met Kaie half-way, with Madoka nowhere to be seen.

"What's going on? Did someone kidnap Madoka-kun?" Sukaime asked.

"What? Kidnap? No!" Oriha immediately panicked.

"Relax, he hasn't really been kidnapped," Sukaime told her. "Um, right?" She looked back at Kaie.

"No, he just told me he had something to do," Kaie told them. "We should go home." Benitsubasa wasn't exactly pleased that Madoka was AWOL, but knowing that Kaie, Oriha, and Sukaime were with her and not with him made her feel a little better. And so home is where they went, and for two hours they heard nothing.

Finally, Benitsubasa did hear the door open. She rushed to be the first one there and found Madoka carrying a small, plastic bag.

"Good, it's you," Madoka said and tossed the bag at her. She caught it, and with her hands busy grasping the bag, she couldn't stop Madoka from grabbing her shoulders, spinning her around, and pushing her down the hallway toward his room.

"Wh-wha-"

"Your dress is still in its bag in my closet, put it on, it's time for you to finally wear it," Madoka told her.

"Why?" she asked.

"Just do it, I'll explain soon," Madoka said as he pushed her into his room. Before he shut the door, he reached out and pulled out her hair clip and elastic, causing her hair to come undone. Before she could ask why again, the door was shut in her face, leaving her standing alone in his room, dazed and confused, with a mysterious bag in her hands. It wasn't heavy, but it did have weight to it.

"Ow..." She rubbed her head where Madoka had pulled out the elastic. He'd pulled her hair. Going back to the bag, she decided she'd open it after she put on the dress, and so put it on Madoka's bed.

In his closet was indeed a bag that hadn't been touched in weeks. Many weeks. The last time she'd been in it was to remove her second outfit. She'd never felt the desire to put on the little pink dress. Why did Madoka want her to wear it now? Well, she did have _one_ idea, but she didn't dare get her hopes up and let her imagination run free.

Stripping out of her clothes took longer than slipping the dress over her head, and she was done quickly. Now to investigate the bag. Opening it she found two boxes. One was medium sized and the other very small. Obviously she wanted to open the bigger one first.

Inside she found a pair of shoes. Now she was _really_ curious as to what he was up to. She decided she might as well put them on, he'd probably expect her to after all. They were black, platformed high-heels with straps that went all the way up her calves. They were similar enough to her boots that they were actually fairly comfortable. They didn't exactly look cheap either, how had- That was when she saw the "for sale, 60% off" sticker on the box. That explained that. What she really wanted to know was how the hell did he know what size to get?

So dress, new shoes, and a tiny box she'd yet to open. The mystery grew, though that was partly only because she didn't want to figure it out lest she get over excited. The tiny box had lipstick in it, a light red color that wasn't quite light enough to be considered pink. She had no idea what to think about that. Make-up? Was he suggesting she wasn't pretty enough as she was? Or was it just to compliment her outfit? She peeked out the door and found that Madoka wasn't waiting for her, so she quickly ducked into the nearby bathroom...

**. . .**

Madoka had been in the kitchen, getting a drink of water. His thirst quenched, he went back to check on Benitsubasa, and found the door to his room ajar, and the door to the bathroom shut. She must have found the lipstick. He waited, but as time passed she was taking way too long. If he'd gotten her an entire make-up set he wouldn't have thought anything of it, but it was just lipstick.

"Um, you alive in there?" He knocked.

"I'm f-fine! Leave me alone!" Benitsubasa responded frantically. He shrugged, but then a thought hit him.

"You've never used make-up before, have you?" He asked, a smirk on his face. She really didn't seem like the type, but he'd been curious to see how she'd look.

"Sh-shut up! I'm fine!" She shouted. Realizing she hadn't thought to lock the door, he decided to see how much she was lying to him. He only meant to crack it open, but when he caught a glimpse of her face he lost control of his knees and nearly fell into the room, laughing all the way. "G-go to hell!" She quickly turned her back to him.

"I-I-I'm sorry," he clutched his sides. Before he could look again, Benitsubasa grabbed a towel and quickly began wiping at her face. It was a shame that he couldn't get a picture, because what he'd seen led him to question Benitsubasa's hand-eye coördination. It hadn't been pretty, but it _had_ been hilarious. "Want me to do it for you?"

"No! Just because I had trouble with my hair one time doesn't mean I can't do things myself! I just need to get used to it! Wh-why do I even need it anyway?" Benitsubasa asked, a deep frown on her face and a lovely red flush to her cheeks.

"To satisfy my curiosity." Madoka shrugged. "Besides, who knows, it might look good on you!"

"Fine, now go away and let me do it!" Benitsubasa shooed him.

"All right, can you be done in five minutes or less?" Madoka asked. Benitsubasa froze and then hung her head, holding the lipstick out to him.

"Wh-why do you even know how to do this?" She grumbled.

"I don't. Just don't wiggle too much..."

In the end it took Madoka a second try as well, but he was pretty sure he'd still done it faster than Benitsubasa could have. With that done, he sent her to wait by the door while he changed his shirt from what he'd worn to work.

**. . .**

Meanwhile in the living room, Sukaime was arguing with Oriha over Madoka's tendency to inadvertently make friends with other ashikabi. Sukaime was somewhere between neutral and for it, while Oriha was almost entirely against it. The argument was short lived though.

"So? If you'd just termin- Oh my... god..." Oriha suddenly stopped to stare at something, completely forgetting about their argument.

"Wh- holy crap! PROOF!" Sukaime shouted when she turned to see what Oriha was looking at. It was Benitsubasa – in a dress.

"P-proof of what? Stop staring dammit!" Benitsubasa shouted back.

"Benitsubasa _is_ a girl!" Sukaime burst out laughing. "Is that lipstick?"

"I swear, I _will_ tear your perverted fucking eyes out!" Benitsubasa stomped angrily.

"OK, yes yes, she's very cute. Bye now!" Madoka suddenly swooped in and directed Benitsubasa out the front door.

"A-am I cute?" Oriha called after them before the door shut.

"Sure!" Madoka responded and shut the door.

"He called me cute," Oriha sighed happily.

"He just told you what you wanted to hear." Sukaime waved it off.

"N-no! He means it!" Oriha insisted.

"You're right, you are cute. Wanna make out?" Sukaime asked casually.

"Wh-what?" Oriha took a step back in horror.

"I said 'do you want take out?'" Sukaime lied, expression still effectively blank.

"That's not what you said!"

"Fine, starve." Sukaime shrugged.

"I'm the one who knows how to cook." Oriha scowled, crossing her arms.

"Well played."

**. . .**

"S-so what are we doing?" Benitsubasa asked, wringing her hands nervously. Madoka knew he'd called her cute, but now that he really looked at her, she was. It wasn't the outfit or the lipstick, though those didn't hurt her appearance, it was just seeing her for the first time in a while not angry. For days she'd been exuding anger, jealousy, hate, and spite, but suddenly now she wasn't. It reminded him of how she used to be sometimes, before things got so complicated. He just hadn't been paying attention back then.

"I dunno, I just thought I'd show you around. Certain parts of the city are pretty lit up at night, I thought I'd show you. I get the feeling you haven't really gotten out that much in the past," he told her.

"Not really," she admitted.

"Well then, let's go," Madoka smiled and increased his walking pace. It would take a little time to walk out of the more residential area he resided in and into the more urban cityscape. He didn't take two steps before Benitsubasa flung herself at him and effectively wrapped herself around his arm, clutching it tightly. It wasn't a move of jealousy this time though, he could see the genuine look of happiness on her face though it rapidly faded to a more shy expression.

Sometimes he forgot that while she might have been the most jealous, she was nowhere near as bold as Sukaime. That was probably a good thing, he couldn't have handled two Sukaimes. To be honest, in that regard, he preferred Benitsubasa. She didn't make it painfully awkward every other time she opened her mouth.

"That's gonna make it hard to walk. We'll never get anywhere." Madoka chuckled. Benitsubasa stuck her tongue out at him, but gave in just a little, settling for holding his hand. "Good, _now_ let's go."

As they walked, the sun slowly set until as they started to get into the thick of the city, it grew dark. But even before full dark, the city began to light up. He could tell Benitsubasa had never really seen such things in person, or perhaps at all. To many who lived there, it would be nothing new, perhaps even excessive to some. To her though, it was exciting and overwhelming. Her head was on a swivel, bouncing from sight to glowing sight. Neon signs, tall buildings covered in billboards that displayed moving images, and towers glistening in the distance covered in lights for the sake of standing out.

"So, uh, sorry," Madoka said awkwardly.

"What?" Benitsubasa took a moment to pull her attention away from the glistening city.

"I'm not very good at being an ashikabi," he told her. "I'm trying to figure it out, but I... you're not happy."

"Yes I am!" Benitsubasa insisted.

"Right now, sure, but before, no. I don't want to apologize for spending time with the others, but somehow along the way things worked out like I'd forgotten about you," he explained. When he said that her face fell. "I didn't. I couldn't forget someone like you! I just... wasn't paying attention the way I should have."

"S-someone like me?" She started fidgeting.

"Well, you know. Loud, stubborn... bright pink." Her fidgeting immediately halted and she scowled at him, red eyes narrowing dangerously. "I'm kidding. Kind of. That's not why though. You started all of this, I couldn't forget that. My life wasn't anything special before you. My life was barely a life at all. I was a cog in a machine. You kind of... woke me up." Now she was back to fidgeting madly. She looked like a scared animal, but when he paused speaking for a moment she looked at him as if desperate to hear more. "Sure what you started has made my life hell a few times, but I feel... just... better somehow, and like I need to keep getting better. Damn it, I don't know what I'm talking about." He shook his head. "I guess the point is when I saw you upset like that I knew I had to do something, fix it. You deserve better from me. I know things haven't been how you've wanted."

"N-no, I mean, I... I-I... I'm not that great," she fumbled with her words just as she fumbled with her fingers as she started playing with her hair. "I-I do... b-bad. I mean, I-I should be better too, f-for you. I'm a... um... jerk."

"Heh, it's part of your charm." Now she looked ready to cram herself through a sewer grate to hide. "Well, in that case, how about we both work on being 'better?'"

"O-OK." She nodded just enough for him to see.

"Good! Now enough of that mushy stuff. Seeing you all cute and blushing is weird." Ironically, saying that made her blush more and look cuter. "Let's keep going. I'm sure there's a candy shop somewhere around here. I know you like that crap." Indeed, her head shot up like it was spring loaded.

It had been a long time since he'd been out to see the sights himself, so he had to admit he was enjoying the view as well. The only problem was Benitsubasa was starting to get a little overstimulated and borderline giddy now that she'd stopped blushing. She was starting to drag him around, wanting to see the next new thing. She had seemingly limitless energy, while his feet were starting to hurt. He walked a lot, certainly, but keeping up with her was getting tough. True to his word, he'd even bought her a large, sugary, cream filled pastry in hopes it would slow her down, and because she'd started drooling the second she'd seen it, but she just ate it with one hand and pulled him along with the other. Actually, giving her sugar had probably been counter-productive.

"H-hey, uh, why don't we find someplace a little calmer and relax. I could use a rest," he pleaded.

"What? But we just got started!" Benitsubasa complained, sadly swallowing the last bite of her snack.

"We've been walking for hours! I'm only human!" Madoka laughed weakly. The statement had a bit more meaning considering his companion for the night. Benitsubasa looked guilty for a moment, and then simply disappointed.

"Sorry, OK," she gave in. He caught her almost tearfully licking a bit of the sugary cream off her finger. He wasn't sure if that was more cute or pathetic.

"Come on, I think it's a little less neon this way," he told her. To keep her from being too disappointed, he offered her his arm. He didn't need to walk that fast anyway. She blushed and took it, suddenly not seeming so upset.

After a not so brisk walk out of the head-rush that was the lit up city center, they found a calmer section of the city that also had less foot traffic. He found a bench sitting in front of a small shop that was closed for the night and sat down to rest his feet. Benitsubasa joined him, sitting as close to him as physically possible.

"Having fun?" he asked her and she nodded.

"I-I didn't know the city was so... so... glowy," she said.

"Glowy? Not beautiful, bright, or exciting maybe? Just glowy?" Madoka grinned in amusement.

"Don't tease me!" Benitsubasa whined, but giggled immediately after.

"But y-" He was cut off as his cell phone rang. "Dammit. Who invented these things?" He sighed and answered it. He didn't get called often, so he assumed that it might be important if he did. "Oh, Avaron?" The second he said that, Benitsubasa got off the bench, scowling and turning away. She obviously didn't approve of the interruption.

"What's going on?" he asked. "Really? Me too. Well, with Benitsubasa. Why?" Apparently Avaron was out with Masukagami. When asked where he was, he unthinkingly told her. Well, it didn't matter, right? Just because she knew where he was right now didn't mean she was going to track him down. By the time she got there he'd be gone. He could just explain he was trying to spend some time with Benitsubasa and everything would be fine.

"HEY! HEY YOU! DON'T MOVE!" He flinched, suddenly someone was yelling at him.

"What the hell? No, not you, some crazy girl is yelling at me," he told Avaron. He saw Benitsubasa turn around to face whoever the hell was screaming at them in the middle of the night. He looked too to see a girl with short, dark hair, a white shirt, and black skirt and an effeminate boy with pale, effectively white hair next to her. He had a white, long-sleeved, zip-up shirt with a thin ribbon tied into the zipper tab.

He saw Benitsubasa tense up. She was more than just upset that someone was yelling at them. Something wasn't right. Unfortunately, he could only think of one reason why: one of them was a sekirei. He had a feeling it was the boy who was the sekirei. It wouldn't be the first time he'd seen a male sekirei, and the girl certainly acted like she was in charge as she stormed toward them.

"You! Sekirei?" She pointed at Benitsubasa. Well, that erased any doubts in his mind. "So you must be the ashikabi!" She turned to face him, her hands on her hips.

"I... have... no idea-" Maybe it wasn't too late to lie.

"What of it? You want to die?" Benitsubasa cracked her knuckles. OK so it _was_ too late. He wondered if it mattered at all that she wasn't wearing her gloves.

"Dammit," Madoka muttered to himself. He'd been hoping to avoid a fight, but of course Benitsubasa didn't operate that way. "I'll have to call you back. We have sekirei problems," he said and hung up on Avaron.

"What's wrong, already realizing you're outmatched?" the girl chuckled and flipped her hair. "Well, maybe I'll let you go if you tell me something."

"Wh-"

"Outmatched? Bring it! I'll put your head through the pavement!" Benitsubasa rammed her fist into her palm threateningly.

"Who do you think you're talking to?" the girl scowled. "Shiina, deal with this bitch!"

"Y-Yukari-chan, I-I don't think..." Benitsubasa didn't give the boy time to talk, stomping over to him.

"You don't have time to think, who are you? Be quick with it, I have a date to finish!" she demanded. Shiina sighed uneasily.

"Shiina. Number one-hundred-and-seven," he said.

**. . .**

"One-hundred... seven..." Benitsubasa whispered to herself. It wasn't like it was the first time she'd met another high number. In fact she lived with one, Oriha, but 107 was so close to 105. There was another reason that was important, 107, but she couldn't think of it. What did it really matter? She just needed to kill him and he wouldn't matter anymore. "Benitsubasa, one-oh-five," she replied.

"One-hundred-and-five? Um, it might mean nothing, but your number, do you perhaps-" But she cut Shiina off.

"Numbers aren't important! I'm out of patience!" Benitsubasa advanced toward him.

"No, it's just that-"

"Introductions are over!" She sprang forth, closing the gap between them rapidly. She threw a punch, but he ducked away, slipping around behind her. She quickly spun around with a kick that just barely missed his face. It was at that moment she felt a breeze in a place that left her blushing, quickly shoving her dress back down to protect her dignity. Maybe she would try to avoid kicking if she could.

The look on Shiina's face told her that he'd seen exactly what she'd been hoping to avoid showing by not wearing dresses. The problem was his expression wasn't exactly embarrassed, more pitying of her own embarrassment. Him looking at her like that was more infuriating than him seeing up her dress in the first place!

"You little prick!" she shouted and lunged at him fist first. Instead of dodging this time, he caught her fist and immediately a wave of pain surged up her arm, leaving it feeling limp. She jumped away clutching her shoulder, looking down to see veins bulging and her fingers twitching painfully against her will. Who was he? Why was his number so familiar? What exactly was this power he was using?

What did it matter, she'd just have to be careful and not let him touch her. Her questions might not be answered, but questions about dead people were pointless anyway. She just had to make him dead. She felt snapping his neck would be satisfactory, though with only one arm that might be difficult. Her injured arm was slowly recovering, but she felt it would take a few minutes for it to be useable again.

"You're making this more difficult than necessary," Shiina said, arms held up loosely at the ready.

"It'd be boring if it was easy," Benitsubasa spat and stuck her tongue out. That's what she needed to do, she needed to enjoy this. So what if it hurt, it felt good to beat someone in the end. She couldn't let him get to her.

"That's not what I-" She was done listening, she'd get too angry if he kept running his mouth. She rushed at him again, but stopped short and aimed a kick at his legs. She struck him in the side of the knee, causing him to stumble. She then jabbed with her good arm, striking him in the chin, leaving him reeling. He steadied himself in time for her to fly forward and ram her knee into his stomach.

"Shiina!" the girl, Yukari, called out. To Shiina's credit, even after the crushing blow, he righted himself and brought his hands back up, ready to fight. Benitsubasa didn't feel like giving him a chance to pull off any of his tricks – whatever they were. She grabbed his wrist before he could actually fight back and twisted his arm into an arm-bar. She brought her elbow down on the back of his neck, dropping him to the ground with his arm still twisted painfully. She twisted it just short of the breaking point and then rolled him onto his back, though this caused her to release some of the pressure.

Elbowing him had hurt, but her arm was at least moving again, if a little stiffly. She let go of his arm and cocked her good arm back.

"This easy enough for you?" She grinned sadistically, a malicious glint in her eyes. She brought her fist down, but flinched. His expression had changed, become colder. His own hand shot out and grabbed her wrist before her punch could connect.

"Death Garden! All that I touch decay!" he called out. She felt the pain again, but far worse, wracking her body and exploding through her arm. It coursed into her body, tearing into her. Even her clothes suffered. She fell back, falling to her side. Half of her dress was only hanging on by thin, ragged threads, threatening to snap and fall from her shoulder at any moment. She coughed and scrambled to her feet, left arm hanging loosely. She held up her right arm defensively. It hadn't recovered from his first attack, but her left arm was completely numb. All she could feel were her muscles spasm weakly in shock from the brutal assault they'd just suffered.

As Shiina stood up, this time his expression was one she didn't expect. He seemed utterly surprised. Was it really so shocking that she was still standing? She was the one who should be surprised. What the hell had he just done to her? However, his expression soon hardened again. There was no malice in his eyes, just resignation.

"I'm sorry, but you can't afford to toy with me. If you do, you'll surely suffer," he said threateningly.

"Y-you worthless arrogant prick..." she seethed. Her legs were shaking, her body felt weak.

"We don't even have to fight!" She paused. What? She grit her teeth. What did he think he was suggesting?

"You think I'm letting you walk away after all this?" Her heart was pounding. Her body felt like it was on fire, but he legs weren't shaking anymore. The only thing that shook was her fist as she clenched it tight with rage. "I WON'T BE HUMILIATED!" She charged at him, and then dropped low, falling to her side and sliding. Her dress rode up to her waist and the cement chafed her thigh, but her dignity was the least of her concern at this point. His guard was up high, he couldn't react in time. Her right leg shot into his gut, doubling him over and throwing him off his feet. With only her trembling right arm she shoved herself back to her feet.

Shiina rose in an attempt to meet her, but her forearm was already crashing into his throat. She bull-rushed him, picking him up off his feet and carrying him into a collision with the building beside him. A gagging sound came as he choked, throat nearly crushed by the impact. He slid to a sitting position, struggling to breathe. She lifted her foot and stomped down on his chest, pinning him there.

"This time you're-" but despite his position, it seemed he wasn't nearly as incapacitated as she'd thought. He grabbed her leg and pushed forward, putting her off balance. He was then just able to reach her other leg and pull her off her feet. She fell onto her back, immediately rolling to a knee, but Shiina had already escaped.

"I warned you," he said, having moved away to Yukari's side. "Death Flower!" He wasn't even near her, but an energy flew out and exploded beside her. Once again, agony rippled through her body, entering her from everywhere and bringing pain to her very core. She heard herself scream, but it felt against her will. Her body itself was screaming, regardless of her mind. When the assault ended she was on her side in a shattered heap. Her dress was mere rags, hanging in messy tendrils across her body. She felt completely numb. What she could feel hurt. Her vision blurred and shook, fading in and out. She could barely move. It was over. She hated it, but she 'd never felt so broken. What hope did she have?

"Huh, did you go easy on her Shiina? She doesn't look dead," Yukari said. "I mean, that other sekirei you terminated barely had any clothes left when you were done with her."

"I don't know," Shiina muttered, not looking particularly pleased with his work.

Benitsubasa felt a pressure on her shoulder. It felt warm, not hard or cold like the cement she lay upon. She felt herself being moved, pulled toward something.

"Hey, hey are you still there?" It was Madoka's voice. He didn't sound right, his voice was too quiet and shaky.

"M-Madoka...kun?" Her voice came out a tired whisper. "You sound funny. A-are you OK?"

"Whatever, now we have a bargaining chip," Yukari interrupted. "Hey, idiot. Pay attention and I might let you keep your sekirei!"

"D-don't call Madoka-kun an idiot!" Benitsubasa found the strength to raise her voice. "You bitch... I'll kill you... if you say that again!" Those few words left her breathing heavy. She felt weaker with every passing moment, and talking wasn't helping.

"Bitch?" Yukari's expression darkened. "Fuck it, we'll torture him if we have to! Get rid of her!"

"What?" Shiina looked surprised.

"You heard me. Finish it. Someone like her will just come after us anyway. It'd be a pain if we had to deal with her again. I can't have her hurting you!" Yukari ordered him.

"Right, I understand." Shiina actually looked disappointed to hear her give the command, but he began to walk toward them.

"Get back!" Madoka yelled, but Shiina didn't stop, now standing before them. He held his hand out and shut his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, there wasn't any hesitation left.

"I'm sorry, but this is how it has to be." There was a flash...

**. . .**

Madoka's expression was obscured by whiteness. Something... fluttered? He realized the white he saw came from someone's clothes, and it wasn't Shiina. He heard a loud crack and the figure before him stumbled, nearly tripping over him. Suddenly the person turned around and he immediately recognized who it was.

"Madoka! Thank goodness I made it just in time!" The white kimono and blue hair he saw meant it was unmistakably Masukagami. She crouched down, "Quick, we have to go!" She grabbed him, and he grabbed Benitsubasa. She pulled him to his feet faster than he could have hoped to with Benitsubasa in his arms. She gently pushed him back and turned to face Shiina. Madoka saw that he was clutching his hand and his shirt-sleeve was torn. Masukagami must have reflected his attack.

He had no idea how he saw what he did next, so small was it that he could have just as easily missed it. There was glass on the ground at Masukagami's feet. The way it reflected the faint light from nearby streetlights so strongly, it must have come from her mirror. He'd seen her block a blow from Namiji's halberd with that tiny, palm-sized mirror. Just what kind of power did Shiina hold that he could shatter it?

Just as he was wondering how they were going to escape, Avaron ran over, looking rather winded and unsteady on her feet.

"M-Masukagami, here!" Avaron panted. Masukagami hopped back, away from Shiina who'd been staring her down nervously.

"Avaron?" Madoka couldn't believe it. "Y-you-"

"We're allies right? Allies help each other. And friends take care of each other," Avaron said breathlessly, hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath.

"N-norito?" Masukagami asked, blushing. Avaron nodded and moved close to her. "OK, everyone stay close!" She leaned in and kissed Avaron, crystal blue wings sprouting from her back. She somehow managed to wrap her arms around all three of them as she pulled out her larger teleportation mirror. "My mirror reveals my pledge, reflect the dreams of my ashikabi!" The mirror spun until it looked ready to phase into another dimension, and then they blinked out of sight.

Madoka's vision went white, and then he was somewhere else. A strong wind picked up and he could hear the sounds of the city echoing. He glanced to his side and his heart nearly leapt out of his chest. They were on top of a building, on a ledge at least fifteen stories up. Realizing the ledge was large enough that they weren't at any huge risk of falling, he took a deep breath to calm himself.

Masukagami let go of them and moved so she was crouching beside him.

"M-Madoka, is Benitsubasa-chan gonna be OK?" she asked, sniffling. "She's kinda... p-pale." His eyes shot wide. The fear of falling to his death just a moment ago was completely forgotten. A new fear that felt just as likely to kill him as any fall set his heart hammering against his chest. He looked down at Benitsubasa, she was still, skin having taken a ghostly hue. With a trembling hand he reached to brush her hair aside. He was afraid of what he'd see – or rather what he might not.

He placed his hand on her neck and took a deep breath. If her crest was still there, then he knew she'd recover. She always came back from any beating she took, and then gave her next opponent twice as much as she'd taken before. She didn't always win, but she always survived. She'd never left him.

He felt something wrap around his hand, slender fingers.

"Madoka..." a weak voice mumbled. He didn't need to check anymore. "C-cold..." she whimpered. He clutched her tight to his chest. She was still there, even if barely she was still there. He didn't want to let go, afraid that if he let her go even a little she'd leave him completely. He felt himself tremble, then shake, eyes burning as he failed to even attempt holding back tears.

But she was still there.

**. . .**

She felt like she was floating. Was that what happened when you were terminated? She certainly didn't feel like she had a body. Then she felt a stabbing pain in her shoulder. Pain began to slowly blossom across her entire body. What was happening? Shouldn't there be no pain after death? What if she was was trapped in her terminated body forever? She'd rather become nothing than live like that!

She tried to relax, and the pain became duller. She realized she was really warm. That was better. As she became more and more aware she realized that she was actually rather comfortable. She also realized that she was more than warm, she was actually sweating. She cracked her eyes open, and she knew she was still alive. She also knew where she was. She recognized the ceiling that she'd woke up beneath a handful of times. She was in Madoka's room.

She still had no idea why it was so warm. His bed was nice, but it wasn't that warm. The blankets also weren't supposed to be as heavy as they felt at the moment.

"Mmm, stop it... stupid marshmallow... you wiggle too much... but you smell so good..." Benitsubasa suddenly felt very uncomfortable. It seemed that she wasn't alone, and if fact had been sleeping beside Sukaime. She really hadn't needed that insight into her dreams.

"Dammit," she groaned weakly. "Wake up!" she did her best to elbow Sukaime.

"Waah! Mean marshm-... huh..." Sukaime groggily pushed herself into a sitting position on her knees. "B-Beni! You're alive!" Sukaime suddenly tackled her, hugging her tightly.

"O-of course I'm alive... moron..." Benitsubasa choked the words out as Sukaime threatened to finish what Shiina started with her overzealous hug. "MBI would have taken me otherwise!"

"W-well yeah, but Madoka brought you back unconscious! You were totally trashed! You looked like you could have gone either way at any moment!"

"Ugh, why do you even care?" Benitsubasa sighed. She was too tired to deal with this right now.

"Because... because..." Sukaime glanced around nervously. "Aside from Madoka no one else really pays attention to me. I mean, Oriha and Kaie are here now. Without you, they're still here to distract Madoka, and I don't have anyone to talk to while he's at work. Oriha's just... she's just not the same, OK?"

"You're saying you'd miss my... entertainment value?" Benitsubasa blinked in disbelief.

"Fuh! Well when you say it like that it doesn't sound nearly as nice." Sukaime rolled her eyes. "I-It's just no good if you get terminated? Out of everyone here... it's just... just never die, OK?"

"It's fine. I don't' plan on losing again," she muttered. She really had no idea what Sukaime was trying to say. It wasn't like Sukaime would _actually _miss her, right? "I'm done. I'm just..." She clenched her fists. "I don't understand what's wrong with me, but I'm going to fix it. I should be stronger than this. I hate losing, it doesn't feel right."

"Hm, well it's like we keep saying. We're not even really supposed to know what losing feels like. We're supposed to be terminated." Sukaime grinned, propping her head up on her hands. "It's actually kind of cool, you know? We're special, we get to lose and live to know what it's like!'

"Yeah, real special," Benitsubasa scoffed and took a deep breath. "I need to go back."

"Huh?" Sukaime cocked her head to the side.

"Nothing, don't worry about it."

"Hmm, OK. Well stop looking so depressed. Today, you're the center of attention. Everyone's gonna wanna see your adorable, smiling face! It's one of those rare sights... like a solar eclipse!"

"Shut up." Benitsubasa looked away from her... only to see that it wasn't just them in the room. Madoka was leaning against the wall nearby, head rolled to the side, asleep. Oriha was curled up in his lap and Kaie was also leaning against the wall next to him, head on his shoulder. "Wh-"

"OK, I'd love to say that everyone was totally worried, but I think that they just wanted to cuddle with him," Sukaime admitted. "But not me! I wanted to cuddle with _you_! Oh, and Madoka was worried, though that one's kinda obvious."

"Y-yeah," Benitsubasa mumbled. He'd been there the whole time? He could have slept on the couch, it would have been more comfortable. Why sleep there, what difference did it make? "G-get them out of here. I want to be alone with Madoka!" She shut her eyes tight.

"Huh? Uh, yeah, sure." She felt Sukaime jump off the bed. She heard a shrill whistle a moment later, loud enough to hurt her ears. "Wake up call! Everyone out, no not you. The princess needs alone time with the prince!"

"Don't call me that," Benitsubasa growled, cracking an eye open to see Sukaime glance at her apologetically.

"Sorry, sorry." She grinned. "Now hurry! Out!" Sukaime swatted Oriha on the rear to speed her on her way.

"I'm putting needles in your cereal!" Oriha warned, her expression foul enough to make her threat look real.

"Don't touch me," Kaie said and walked past Sukaime unmolested.

"OK, have fun you two!" Sukaime said and then shut the door.

"Well, she makes a hell of an alarm clock, huh?" Madoka said tiredly, rubbing the back of his neck. "So, uh, I'm glad you're still with us."

"You," Benitsubasa corrected.

"Huh?"

"I'm here for you."

"Uh, yeah, right." Madoka didn't seem to know how to take that. She didn't know why she'd felt the need to say that. She lifted an arm, though it protested heavily. She reached it out towards him, and when he stepped forward she took hold of his shirt and tugged on it. Normally she would have just yanked him into the bed, but in this case guiding him to do what she wanted would have to suffice.

Once he was sitting in the bed next to her she just took a minute to breathe. Finally she looked over at him and held her hand out again. It took him a bit to figure out what she was asking this time, but he gingerly took her hand.

"Umm, can we talk?" She had things she needed to tell him. There was a lot to say.

* * *

><p><strong>What's that? Benitsubasa is the focus of attention again? My... god... Hey, I needed time to set everything up, OK? Now wasn't it all worth it? I feel like this is sort of the half-way point and the story is just going to shift gears in general as we move on. I've said it before but this time for real. There aren't any more sekirei for Madoka to wing.<strong>

**Now for reviews!**

**KenjiakaTsukune: Well, I wouldn't say Benitsubasa "lost her shit." The closest she got to that was choking Sukaime last chapter. That was sort of the highlight of that. We're moving on to a different chapter of Benitsubasa's emotions now. As for lemon/sex scene, I have no idea if that's a common "thing" in sekirei fanfiction, but that's not how I roll. I've given this an M-rating as a sort of safety net so that I can do whatever I want, so if I want to go there I'll go there, but I'm not shoehorning it in "just because." Well, that's how I feel about that anyway. Other than that, I'm glad you like it and I'm certainly going to keep things going.**

**Thanks for the review!  
><strong>

**ManlyMonk: Tsundere-ish? Ha, sounds about right. Good things? Hmmm...  
>Thanks for the review!<strong>

**Haihanator87: Umm, it's kinda hard to e-mail someone without an email address. Perhaps ate part of your review? But hey, if you're as good as you say and you want to draw Benitsubasa, go for it. She needs more fan art!**

**Thanks for the review!**

**Grimankin: Ahh, such a motivating review! I assume the Benitsubasa thing is the "one thing" that was bothering you? The way you wrote your review suggests that the "one thing" is actually something else, or maybe I'm just reading it wrong. I think this chapter should have made you happy though! No more breaking hearts!**

**Thanks for the review!**

**Atrile: Boring? Hold on while I go cry in a corner... Talent? Hold on while I deflate my suddenly overinflated ego... Brilliantly written? OK I'm done...**

**Ah, I skimmed back over the chapter after reading your review and I can see how someone might find it boring. A lot of what I did was things I'd done, even if a little differently, before in this fic. Looking back, I could have done a lot of things better in this fic in general to make it more exciting. I consider it my best work yet, but I think part of me was getting a little... arrogant? I'm gonna do my best to step it up from here, and fortunately going past this sort of "half way" mark is going to help I think. Glad you at least liked part of it, and quite a lot it seems.**

**Thanks for the review!**

**Saint River 2.0: Yay, I made it into another favorite list! Hm, more members? It's not... impossible. As for Haruka and Kuno, they would have been kind of boring. Namiji is actually useful in a fight, and I still haven't really used her and Kouji in any super meaningful way yet. Kuno is funny, but not good enough to keep around.**

**Thanks for all the reviews!**

**Grey vs Ale: I'm glad you corrected yourself there, we don't like Minaka. Haha. But thanks for the compliment, that's what I'm going for, with the emotions that is. **

**Thanks for the review!**

**AcediaPrototype: Surprises from the disciplinary squad? Well, I'm not sure what you mean by that. Probably won't be anything as big as the squad having two people to replace Benitsubasa. And I do admit I screwed up with Avaron. She was supposed to do a lot more. That situation can be salvaged though. In hindsight though, my original plan wasn't that great. The only issue is now Avaron is kind of floating around a bit...**

**Thanks for the review!**

**That's everyone! Follow this if you're interested, favorite it if you liked it, and review it if you really liked it! I accept kind words and constructive criticism!**

**Til' next time! **


	23. I Hate History

**Yes, yes I am a week late. Why? Because life occasionally likes to remind me that I am indeed still its little bitch. But now, here I am with the next great installment of _Violent Hearts_.**

**Unfortunately there will be no more replies to reviews, not because I'm lazy, and not because I don't appreciate them, but because I was told it might be against the rules. I haven't gotten in trouble yet, but I don't want to push my luck in case it's true. I can still reply to you via PM though.**

**And now here we go again.**

* * *

><p><strong>I Hate History<strong>

Benitsubasa had a lot of things she wanted to tell Madoka. She wiggled her feet nervously, trying to find the right words. She wasn't sure how things would change if she went through with what she had in mind.

"U-um, so were you really there all night?" she asked. "W-wasn't that unc-comfortable?"

"A little bit," Madoka rolled his shoulder, causing it to crunch audibly. "Ow..."

"Sorry," she mumbled. If only she'd been stronger or smarter. She should have been able to win.

"Not your fault. I uh, it was my choice to sleep in here." Now even he looked a little nervous.

"Yeah..."

"You know, I'm trying to convince myself that that was really what you wanted to talk about, but I'm having trouble," Madoka said. She bit her lip. He was right of course, but where to start? How much did she want to say right now?

"W-well." She took a deep breath. "There's a lot of things I want to tell you, b-but I just... when I try to nothing comes out. I-I want to but I'm not ready yet. I need to do something first."

"Well what is it? Can I help?"

"After I get better, I need you to take me somewhere," she told him.

"Well, unless you want me to carry you, I don't see how I can get you anywhere you couldn't get yourself." He chuckled. His lightheartedness made her feel a little better at least.

"I mean I want you to go with me!" She shoved him playfully. A day ago she'd been angering him with her jealousy, but now she felt more comfortable around him than ever before. Somehow things just felt different, but good. She hoped it wasn't just pity because of her injuries.

"Sure, no problem. We can go after I get out of work Friday, unless it needs to be done in the morning."

"Friday is good." She sobered a little, now having a date set in stone. She wondered what would happen. What if it didn't go well? Well, she had some time to think about what she would do, and what she would say. "Thank you."

"Of course."

"And... sorry."

"For what?"

"Um, nothing, never mind." She wanted to say she was sorry she made him cry. She wasn't sure he even knew that she'd been conscious enough to remember that. She wanted to say sorry, but yet somehow the memory made her happy. It was strange, she'd been beaten, shattered, her ashikabi brought to tears, and yet those tears were a happy memory for her. If he cried for her, it meant she was important.

**. . .**

For more than a day she didn't even leave the bed. To her disappointment, Madoka never spent the night in bed with her, stating he didn't want to accidentally roll over on top of her and hurt her while she was recovering. She supposed it was too soon to think they'd grown_ that _much closer anyway. At least now she felt it really could progress to that. Perhaps it wasn't even very far away.

Sadly, at the moment, she was more likely to have Sukaime sneak into bed with her. And Sukaime _was_ being a pest. She hid it under the guise of being helpful and bringing things to her, like food, while she was bedridden. Helpful maybe, but she always made sure to run her mouth. She'd heard more innuendos in the last 24 hours than any single person ever should have had to.

And then Friday came.

She fidgeted the whole day. Oriha looked at her funny and Sukaime tried to interrogate her, but she revealed nothing. She just kept on worrying the day away until Madoka came home. That was a lot of worrying. She wished he didn't have to work, if she was going to go through this at least it would have been nice to get it over with.

Finally it was time to go get Madoka. Sukaime chattered away with the occasional comments from Oriha and Kaie. Benitsubasa herself was unusually silent and passive. When they arrived home, Madoka sent the other three off to corners of the house they'd claimed for themselves.

"So, ready to go?" he asked her.

"Y-yeah, let's go." She quickly turned and headed back out, Madoka following her. It soon became apparent it wasn't going to be a short walk. An hour had passed and they still weren't there.

"Umm, we could have taken a train you know," he told her. "At this rate we'll be getting home after dark."

"S-sorry, I should have had us go tomorrow..." she muttered. She'd been impatient, she should have thought about that.

"It's fine. I don't have anywhere to go tomorrow." Madoka shrugged. "But you still haven't told me _where_ we're going."

"I-it's better if I just show you. If I tell you now you'll just ask questions I don't know how to answer," she said to him. "It's important, just trust me please."

"Yeah, all right. Are we at least close?"

"It shouldn't be too much longer..." she told him. Not too much longer became another two hours and it was already getting dark. They then stood before a rather plain looking house. Benitsubasa knew better of course, though she could see a puzzled look on Madoka's face.

"You... know who lives here?" Madoka asked her.

"You'll understand soon," she assured him. She got on her knees and tilted a nearby empty pot that looked like it was supposed to contain flowers, though nobody had even bothered to fill it with dirt. She found a key taped to the bottom of it. She let them in only to find it completely barren inside; absolutely no furnishing whatsoever. "H-huh?" She blinked. What was going on, this wasn't how she'd left it.

"Umm, is this was you were expecting?" Madoka asked.

"But... the key... was still there," Benitsubasa mumbled to herself, eyes wide in bewilderment.

"Umm, can you _please_ tell me wha-" But Benitsubasa was already racing into the house. He was just asking again, but she could explain later if she had to. She had things she needed to find out for herself. She still had some hope, if only... just maybe...

She soon found herself before a door that looked to lead to one of the rare basements in Japan. It wasn't a normal door though, it was sturdy and made of metal with an inset door handle instead of a knob. There was also a keypad set into the wall beside it. She frantically hit the keys, causing the display to flash red repeatedly as the codes she entered were rejected. Finally it flashed green and a hollow click echoed from within the door as the lock mechanism released.

**. . .**

Madoka sighed, following after her, but taking time to glance around the house. It really was empty. He didn't even see a single chair. At least it meant he wouldn't trip over anything in the dark. He reached Benitsubasa, a look of panic on her face like he'd never seen before, just as she finally got a keypad to obey her. She nearly tore the door off its hinges as before racing down the steps behind it.

He had to wonder what this was all about. Who lived here? When had Benitsubasa been here before? Why was she so upset? He was left standing at the top of the stairs, unsure if he should be following her. He wasn't even sure if he should be in the house at all. However, he heard voices coming from below, and they weren't angry. Finally his curiosity won out and he tentatively followed Benitsubasa down.

At the bottom he was greeted by high-tech equipment, flashing lights, computers, and the only colors that didn't come from electronics were the reflective grays of steel and the sterile white of the floors and walls. He already wanted to leave. It was clearly a lab, so the color scheme was to be expected, but then again he'd never wanted to work in a lab.

That left him wondering though. Why did Benitsubasa know the way to a house like that? Why did she know the code to enter a room like that?

"Ah, so you must be little Beni's ashikabi, how... tall," an adult, male voice spoke. He turned to see a man in a lab-coat with a mop of thinning and graying, but still for the most part brown, hair. He wore a pair of glasses that were old and misshapen from some sort of abuse over the years. The man was currently sitting in a wheeled office chair and turned to face Madoka.

The most surprising thing was not that apparently Benitsubasa knew this man, but the fact that Benitsubasa leaning over the arm of the chair, arms around the man's neck, hugging him tightly. Now he really wanted to know who this was. Perhaps just as surprising was the fact that he could talk about her that way, calling her little and saying her name in ways that would have earned Sukaime a tongue lashing and a vicious glare, if not worse.

"Uh, I guess I am," Madoka replied uncomfortably. "If you don't mind me asking, who are you?"

"Why, I'm her tuner of course! Well, I was, I'm not anymore. My services are no longer required in that capacity by MBI, or Beni here," the man explained. "Of course, you're probably looking for a name, so you may call me Satoru."

"Tuner? Last I checked Benitsubasa wasn't a car..." Madoka had no idea what the hell he was talking about, but apparently the man found it hilarious and burst out laughing, while Benitsubasa just blushed. More worrisome was the fact that this man worked, or at least once had worked, for MBI. Benitsubasa seemed to like him though, so he was trying to reserve judgment for the moment.

"No, of course not! I'm glad you can tell the difference though, not that it's exactly a subtle one." Satoru grinned. "No, a tuner with regards to sekirei has a much different and far more difficult job. More important too as far as I'm concerned. However, a more detailed explanation would probably make your head explode. Not to insult your intelligence, but unless you're hiding a couple of biology degrees up your sleeve, I'm afraid you wouldn't be able to make much sense of it all."

"P-probably," Madoka admitted. He didn't even know what to call a tenth of the equipment in the room. He saw a computer, an examination table, and a... magnifying... thing. He didn't even bother trying to name anything else.

"So, Beni, I assume he's been treating you well if you've brought him here to meet me," Satoru said. "Though, if you've gone through the trouble of coming here, I have to think there's more to it than that."

"Y-yeah, I-I mean about him, n-nothing's really wrong," Benitsubasa said, tucking some loose hair behind her ear.

"Well well, to have Beni here so flustered, it makes me wonder." Satoru chuckled and winked at Madoka.

"Uh, I'm sure it's not what you're thinking," Madoka told him.

"Oh, I'm sure. I was just testing you. She's always been like this," Satoru said. "One minute she'd be pumped, and the next she'd be hiding in my pant leggings."

"No! He's lying! Don't believe him!" Benitsubasa shouted, her face flushing bright red. Satoru was forced to adjust his glasses as his laughter shook them loose.

"Well, I'm afraid that cute, red shade coloring your cheeks is making it hard to believe you," Satoru finally managed to say when his laughter subsided. "But I'd like to get to know your ashikabi here. Why don't you go spend some time in your room? It's been collecting dust ever since you left. Maybe you can air it out a little."

"B-but-"

"Please, I know you came all this way, but I'd like a chance to speak with your ashikabi." Satoru's tone became more serious as he leaned forward in his chair.

"OK," Benitsubasa gave in. With some reluctance, she headed back up the stairs, but not before throwing one last glance back at the two. Once they were alone, Satoru turned to face him.

"So, before we begin, how about your name?" Satoru asked.

"Oh, right. Madoka," he answered.

"Well, Madoka, I'm sure you have a lot of questions, so I'll give you a chance to speak first." Satoru gestured for him to go ahead.

"Uh, I guess I just want to know how Benitsubasa ended up here for starters," Madoka said.

"It's really quite simple. I'll try to keep the jargon to a minimum," Satoru began. "She was assigned to me when she was very young, by MBI, so that I could prepare her for the sekirei plan. Personally, I have no interest in the plan itself, only the sekirei and the science. Something so interesting, I couldn't refuse. I did at first, but in the end I could not keep myself away. MBI was offering more than I could turn down. To be honest, it didn't take long before the science became... secondary. I became very... fond of her." He chuckled lightly. "Don't get me wrong, she could be a downright terror at times. By her nature her energy has no limits. A marathon runner would quite simply be put to shame, there's no other way to put it. In the end though, she's a very good girl, there's just something about her that belies everything you come to expect from her. Something deeper down. In fact, just to keep up with her I had to change."

Satoru suddenly slipped his lab coat off and crossed his arms. Madoka had to do a double take when he saw the size of the man's arms. He had biceps that looked capable of crushing walnuts and triceps to back them up. "Would you believe I weighed nearly three hundred pounds when I first met her? Raising her on top of the science I needed to keep up with for MBI's sake was very stressful. I had to take up smoking again after trying to quit after college. But then I had to quit _again_ when she started yelling at me." The man slipped a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket and stuck one in his mouth. "Of course, now that she doesn't live here anymore I can go back to slowly killing myself."

"You... smoke in here?" Madoka knew that was hardly the most important thing he'd said, but smoking in such an enclosed space didn't seem smart.

"What? It's ventilated!" Satoru insisted. "If I was that dumb I wouldn't have been chosen as a tuner! You insult me!"

"S-sorry." Madoka coughed nervously. He supposed he'd asked for that.

"Ah, think nothing of it, I'm just excited. I never expected to see her again." Satoru grinned. "She's special you know."

"Well, that's one way to put it." Madoka laughed nervously. Satoru suddenly frowned though, leaning forward in his chair again as he lit his cigarette.

"No, I mean she's really special. Not just as a person, but among sekirei. You've heard of the single numbers by now I should hope?" Satoru looked him in the eye.

"Heard of, met, fought, yeah. They're different for sure," Madoka replied. He didn't know _how_ they were different, but there was no denying they were. Terrifyingly so.

"Well, on the complete opposite end of the spectrum are the 100s," Satoru began. "We've taken to calling them... experimental. The Experimental Sekirei. Their tuning is different, because their innate abilities are of interest. Many sekirei have abilities that defy what seems physically possible, but with the high numbers, these 100s, we had data from all the past sekirei to work with. Between innate abilities that set them apart, and that data, we could start doing things a little differently, we could start looking closer. Benitsubasa is number 105, she's one of those Experimental Sekirei."

"S-so... all 100s are?" Madoka asked.

"Yes, why?"

"Well... um... I-I have more than one of those. Out of my... err, f-four, I have Benitsubasa and, uh, number 101," Madoka explained nervously. Satoru was clearly something of a father figure to Benitsubasa, so he wondered how he'd take the news.

"Oho! You don't say? Well, I'm... impressed," Satoru said to Madoka's surprise. "I'm sure Benitsubasa's not pleased, and that makes me sad, but... I know she's in good hands."

"How so?"

"Well, you winged four sekirei, that alone sets you apart! I wish she had you to herself, but I feel better knowing she's not in this fight alone." He began to laugh again, but coughed to cut himself short. "You worry, I can tell. You're a worrier. You'll probably have lines around your eyes before you're 30. You worried what I'd think. You brought her here, not even knowing who I was, so I know you worry about her too."

"Y-yeah, I guess." Madoka rubbed the back of his neck. "S-so, uh, back to this Experimental Sekirei thing..."

"Of course, pardon my tangent." Satoru cleared his throat. "There's not much more I can say without going into territory that would make your head explode, but I can assure that yes, your 101 is certainly an Experimental Sekirei."

"You said 100s, but also 'high numbers.' I find it hard to believe that they just started at 100 because it was a round number," Madoka commented. He had a suspicion.

"Hmm, probably not, but I can't say for certain. I just know that when I was handed Benitsubasa, the Experimental Sekirei program had already begun. Though, calling it a 'program' might be too formal, but the tuning practices had changed by that time for sure," Satoru explained. "The talk I heard from other tuners has led me to believe though that it definitely encompasses the 100s, and that's all I can tell you. Why?"

"No reason, I was just wondering how many of these sekirei are out there I guess. I have two, and there are at least six more that probably aren't on my side," Madoka said, though he could see the doubt in Satoru's eyes. He didn't know why he was lying, but he wasn't sure how much he wanted to tell Satoru.

"So, my turn. What can _you_ tell _me_ about why Benitsubasa has come here?" Satoru asked, turning the tables. Madoka found that question surprisingly easy to answer, though he knew there was more to Benitsubasa's reasoning that he could say.

"She's doubting herself," Madoka said. "She's lost a couple fights. At this point, probably more than she's won." Doing a mental count, he confirmed it. She's beaten Mitama first, Nanami second, and then the lightning twins. She'd needed a lot of help to hold down Namiji when she fought her, and she'd outright lost the other three or four fights she'd been in.

"Lost, but still alive? I'm grateful but... confused. Sekirei are meant to terminate each other as far as I know," Satoru said, looking puzzled.

"Some of it's luck, some of it's my lack of caring about the rules." Madoka shrugged. "Like you said, she's not alone. I have other sekirei, and I've made friends with other ashikabi. I'm not going to let her die because some idiot in a tall building says I have to." Satoru was quiet for a while, puffing on his cigarette and carelessly tapping the ash onto the floor. Finally he ran out, flicking the scorched filter away as a small chuckle left his lips, the corner of his mouth twitching into a smile. He began to double over, body shaking, and finally an uproarious laugh escaped him and just jumped to his feet.

Before Madoka knew it he was being embraced.

"Oh, I like you boy! You make an aging man smile! I knew I was right about you!" He took Madoka by the shoulders and held him at arm's length. Masayuki's smoking was a minor annoyance, but in the tight space, with the man literally right on top of him having _just_ finished a cigarette, Madoka was having trouble breathing. "Do me a favor and fetch Benitsubasa would you?" He suddenly sobered. "There's things we need to talk about, and she should be here for them. I think I can shed at least a little light on her losing streak. I don't think I can help fix it... but we'll see. Maybe what I have to say can help you in some way."

Madoka nodded and headed upstairs. He realized he hadn't thought to ask where Benitsubasa's room was, but it didn't take him long to find it. He found a door left open at an unusual angle and figured she must have been the one to pass through it. He stepped in and felt like he'd been transported to another world. He wasn't sure if he should have been gawking or laughing, but he ended up gawking. It was just so... pink. And flowery. And unquestionably _girly_. Benitsubasa's hair might have been pink, and she was certainly a girl, but her personality was the exact opposite of both those things. He supposed that must have been part of what Satoru had been talking about when he'd said she defied expectations.

He found her lying face down on a bed that was barely big enough for her. She looked like she was already half-asleep, clutching a pillow close to her chest.

"Hey," Madoka said softly, not wanting to disturb her. After a moment she turned her head toward him.

"It's just the way I left it," she mumbled tiredly. "It's like after I left he just shut the door and never came in again." She sighed. "Probably exactly what happened."

"So, this was your room, huh?" he asked.

"Yeah..."

"It's uh... very feminine." He nodded, tight lipped, trying to keep a straight face.

"What? I'm a girl OK! I thought it was just Sukaime who-" She pushed herself up to look at him.

"No, it's just... you're definitely a girl, but I never expected you to actually keep a room like this. I didn't think you'd like cute things so much." He bent over and picked up a stuffed rabbit that had fallen on the floor.

"W-well I've changed! I was a lot younger when I made it like this! Besides, I don't live here anymore, there's no reason to fix it!" Benitsubasa insisted, looking as embarrassed as he'd ever seen her.

"Right, sorry," Madoka said, rolling his eyes before tossing the rabbit toward the bed. He nearly doubled over laughing when Benitsubasa frantically scrambled to catch it.

"B-be careful!" she shouted at him, clutching the rabbit to her chest. "I-I mean... I... crap."

"My bad, I didn't know." Madoka raised his hands, begging forgiveness. "Should we take it with us when we leave?"

"Uh... w-well." Benitsubasa held the small bunny out at arms length, stroking its head once before hugging it again. "No. They'll just make fun of me. I'm used to that, but it's not safe. They'd probably hurt him. He's safer here."

"He?" Madoka raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, OK? Is that a problem?" Her burning glare suggested he'd better shut up if he knew what was best for him.

"N-n-not at all." Madoka laughed nervously, clearing his throat before he continued. "So, is it-. . . uh,_ he_ the only one you have?" Despite the girly atmosphere of the room, the rabbit was the only stuffed animal in sight. He'd have expected another dozen lining the foot of Benitsubasa's bed.

"Yeah." Benitsubasa nodded. "He's the only one I needed... at least back then." The way she looked at him when she said that was something he knew would be burned into his mind forever. That word "need," that was stuck to him now. She couldn't just cling to a little bunny anymore, she needed him, and that was all there was to it. It was too much responsibility for a person like him. How had he ended up with not just her, but three others? He wished he was more confident that he was cut out for it, but he couldn't just buck this responsibility, not and live with himself. He was scared, but at this point even if quitting was an option, he wasn't sure he would.

"It's up to you if you want to bring him home. Between the two of us, I'm sure he'd be safe," Madoka told her, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

"I know," Benitsubasa admitted, looking sad. "But I-I can't." She gently put the bunny down, propping its head up on a pillow.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa wanted more than anything to keep the bunny, but there was a part of her that felt too much pain looking at it. Despite knowing better, it made her feel safe. Too many happy memories were connected to the little stuffed rabbit. Too many times had she trusted that holding it to her chest would soften any hurt she felt. After everything she'd been through, she couldn't cling to the bunny, to the old feelings. The constant draw of a past she could never go back to would be too much.

Maybe someday she'd be able to come back and reclaim those feelings, but right now she knew it was best to leave the past where it was. Right now the past would drag her down. She couldn't afford to look over her shoulder. Somehow she'd make new memories that were worth keeping.

"I'll tell you everything someday, I promise," Benitsubasa whispered, tenderly caressing the bunny's face with her finger. She already had a few good memories, but she'd wait until she had more.

She was embarrassed to have shown that side of herself in front of Madoka. She wanted to believe she could trust him though, that it was OK if he saw. Even if not on purpose, Madoka had hurt her many times, but she was stuck with him. It wasn't a fact she resented, but she sometimes lamented how tumultuous their time together had been. She still wanted to believe in him though, and because of that very fact. Everything that had happened, all the anger that they'd shared, and here she was in her old room with him, telling him about her old bunny.

She turned away from the rabbit to face him only to find he was leaning toward her. Before she knew what was happening she felt his lips press against her forehead. Her heart did a 360 in her chest, twisting into knots and feeling ready to explode. It was just her forehead, but _he_ had kissed _her._ She hadn't had to physically force it upon him, it hadn't been because she'd wanted to make sure he'd seen her wings, and it wasn't her catching him off guard. This time he'd made the first move, and there was no one around to complain about it.

"I'll take you back here when you're ready to have that talk with him," Madoka told her. She bit her bottom lip. How was she supposed to respond to that? "Right now though your tuner wants to see both of us."

"Why?"

"I don't know, he just said he might be able to explain some things." Madoka shrugged.

"You told him, didn't you?" she asked him, sliding of the edge of the bed. Satoru knew what had become of her now. She was a failure. He'd taken care of her for years and she couldn't even make all his work worthwhile. She'd known this was going to happen, it was why she'd gone back, but now with the truth came shame, shame that she couldn't live up to anyone's expectations.

"Sorry, you probably wanted to do that yourself, huh?" Madoka stood up as well.

"It's fine. I would have made a mess of it. You're the one who always insists on talking, remember?" She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Eh, conflict is for people with spines, not losers like me." Madoka rolled his eyes. Benitsubasa immediately frowned and poked him in the ribs.

"Shut up, I don't want to hear self-pity from _you_," she growled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Madoka rubbed his side where she'd poked him.

"You're _my_ ashikabi, so I don't want to hear that crap from you! Besides, if you're a loser, then what the hell does that make me?"

"Unlucky- OW! Stop poking me!" Madoka complained when she jabbed him again. "I was joking."

"If you weren't my ashikabi, I swear to god." Benitsubasa sighed into her palm. "Let's just go see what he wants downstairs."

"So, moment officially dead?" Madoka chuckled.

"You're a bloody murderer," Benitsubasa muttered and grabbed his wrist to drag him back down to Satoru's lab. Since he was behind her though, she decided that letting a little smile grace her lips wouldn't be so bad. Sometimes he acted like an idiot, and sadly that was probably why he could deal with Sukaime, but he wasn't bad. He was good, better than her. What had he said to her that night? Something about both of them trying to be better? She felt like he'd already held up his end. Now it was her turn, and she prayed that Satoru had something that could help her.

**. . .**

"Well well, look at you, holding hands." Satoru laughed when the two walked in to the lab.

"No, no. This is called being dragged," Madoka assured him as Benitsubasa finally let go of his wrist. It was really awkward to be dragged down a flight of stairs.

"I don't think she knows the difference to be honest." Satoru grinned, causing Benitsubasa to once again shrink down in embarrassment. To be honest though, after being pulled halfway around Tokyo by her, Madoka had to agree.

"J-just tell us what you wanted!" Benitsubasa shouted, reaching the limit of what she could take. Satoru sighed and sunk back into his chair.

"I'm not really sure how to explain this, so I'll just try to make it as simple as possible." The man adjusted his glasses and stared at Benitsubasa for a moment. "You left before your tuning was complete. Your abilities were never properly set to the levels they were supposed to be. Without tuning, you'd have been a monster, with tuning, you're just moderately superhuman. With your tuning not finished, you're barely that."

"Wh-what?" Benitsubasa's eyes went wide as saucers. She looked pale. "What do you mean? I'm broken?"

"No!-"

"Is that why I'm so weak? What the hell are you trying to say?" Benitsubasa screamed, her voice reverberating off the walls of the tiny room.

"Calm dow-"

"DON'T TELL ME TO BE CALM! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO?" Benitsubasa fell to her knees, punching the floor, cracking it. Madoka froze, he didn't know what to do here. What was he supposed to say? That everything would be OK? He had no idea what Satoru was talking about. For all he knew, this was bad. It sounded really bad.

"Benitsubasa, be quiet! Let me finish speaking!" Satoru raised his voice, suddenly becoming all business. Madoka was effectively in awe when he saw Benitsubasa listen. She sat there, sniffling, eyes red, but listening. "Look, you're right to be worried. You ran out of here before I was finished, so you're abilities are underdeveloped. We didn't give them to you, we didn't train you. We don't know how to train sekirei anyway, you're not human. What you have is ingrained in your genetics. All we can do is alter those genetics to make you weaker or stronger. Unfortunately, I made you much weaker. I was in the process of fine tuning, and you never let me finish."

"S-so? Can't you fix it?" Benitsubasa asked, hiccuping.

"No. Being winged has pretty much locked everything in place. I don't dare try to alter anything now. Besides, if I was caught MBI would probably have all of our heads." Satoru sighed. "However... you're not entirely out of luck. A sekirei's strength comes from their ashikabi. That's why being winged makes you stronger right away. That link between you two is an active one, it's not just 'there,' it's doing something. You need to use it. Abuse it if you have to."

"What?" Benitsubasa and Madoka said in unison. Satoru shook his head.

"I never locked out your abilities, they're still in there. Have you used any of them?"

"I dunno," Benitsubasa muttered helplessly, looking lost.

"Well, didn't you do something different one day? When you fought that ice user, you said you felt like you got 'stronger,'" Madoka reminded her.

"Oh yeah!" Benitsubasa's face suddenly lit up and she jumped to her feet. "Watch!" She put her hands together and Madoka's face immediately blanched.

"NO!" He lunged and grabbed her wrists at the last second to stop her. "I-I-I don't think he needs a demonstration."

"Q-quite right," Satoru agreed nervously. When it seemed Benitsubasa wasn't going to blow holes in the walls anymore, Madoka let her go. "The point is, if you two work together, you should be able to pull out these abilities. You're not just a brawler, Beni, you're much more special than that. You just have to remember that. You can get stronger. I left you in a malleable state so that I could finish your tuning, so there's still hope that you can mold yourself into what you need to be. Just consider Madoka your tuner now, minus the needles."

"Needles?" Madoka shivered. "Wh-why needles?"

"Well, like I said. It's all in her genetics, how do you think we alter someone's genetic structure?"

"It's with needles, OK? Let's not talk about it," Benitsubasa said hastily. "He doesn't need details." She scowled at Satoru.

"I guess neither of you are fans of needles..."

"Who would be?" Benitsubasa shouted, panting heavily. When she calmed down, she began rubbing her arm. "J-just promise me you're not saying all that to make me feel better. I don't want to be broken. I want to have a chance, I don't care how small it is."

"I can't make promises," Satoru admitted. "We've studied over a hundred of you, but we still only know so much about sekirei. Maybe the arrogant pricks in that big tower know more than they're telling me, but that doesn't help us. The situation you're in isn't something we really have data on anyway."

"Hey, you got stronger once right? You can do it again. I'll do whatever I can to help." Madoka put his hand on her shoulder. He felt her hand reach across and grab his. "I'm not sure what that is, but we'll figure it out." He was committed now. Somewhere along the way he'd decided he was seeing all this through, but he wasn't going to be a passenger. Benitsubasa needed him to be more than that.

"I don't know what more I can do for you. It's probably not what you were hoping for when you came here, but at least now you know." Satoru fidgeted with his hands. Madoka could understand how he might feel helpless. It must have been worse for him who could literally do nothing more. He saw the man reach into his pocket for his pack of cigarettes, but Benitsubasa reached out and stole it. Satoru chuckled. "Again with this? Fine, I'll throw it out."

"No, I'm putting it in the garbage disposal before we leave so you can't take it back," Benitsubasa declared, expression rock solid. "You were supposed to quit!"

"Well, after you left I got lonely and-"

"No excuses! I didn't give you permission to kill yourself! You're not allowed to die until I say you can! Got it?" Benitsubasa berated him, her finger in his face for emphasis.

"Oh come on, they're not _that_ deadly. Lots of people smoke all their lives an-" Satoru was silenced by the scorching fury of Benitsubasa's signature glare. "Very well, as you command, I'll quit... again."

"And I'll be back to make sure!"

"Oh, so you'll be visiting?" Satoru looked pleased to hear that.

"Occasionally." Benitsubasa's stare hardened further. "Unannounced."

"I'd listen, personally," Madoka said. He really didn't need another smoker in his life anyway. Masayuki was bad enough, but at least his jokes were funny. Satoru just reminded him of the fact that he'd never graduated college.

"Yes, but do you have to go now? It's already dark out." Satoru told them.

"How would you know, you damn basement dweller!" Benitsubasa crossed her arms.

"Well, Beni. Dear. Computers all have these things called clocks on them, right there in the bottom corner..." Benitsubasa's face reddened at Satoru's patronizing answer.

"Stop acting like _her_!" Benitsubasa grit her teeth angrily.

"Who?"

"One of my other sekirei. She's almost as much of a handful as Benitsubasa and they tend to butt heads. But that's why we should get going, if we don't they'll hunt us down and that could get awkward," Madoka told Satoru. "Hell, they're probably already looking." He shook his head.

"I see, well, one day when you come back bring them, I'd like to meet some of Benitsubasa's peers. It's been a long time since I've seen another sekirei besides her, it might be interesting." Satoru stood up and embraced Benitsubasa. "I mean it though, don't take so long coming back next time."

"I'll try." Benitsubasa hugged him back. Madoka felt a sudden ache in his chest. For her this was family. Why didn't he have family like that? He shook his head, he didn't want to think about that right now. He needed to focus on Benitsubasa, not his own, largely self-inflicted, issues.

**. . .**

"We made it. That went better than last time," Benitsubasa said when they finally got home. She was referring to them walking through the city at night. The last time had led to the entire reason they'd gone to see her tuner.

"Yeah, but the route we took wasn't as 'glowy.'" Madoka made a grandiose gesture with his hands to punctuate his sentence. They'd tried to take a train back, but then they were reminded of the fact that the train stations were locked down, so they'd had to walk late into the night to get home.

"Jerk! Don't make fun of me!" Benitsubasa was laughing though. She just hoped to one day live that one down. They walked inside to find everyone sleeping, not even waiting up for them. "Already looking huh?" Seeing them that way though made her really want to join them though. She was tired.

"And here I thought they liked me." Madoka rolled his eyes. "I would have at least expected Sukaime to wait up to get a goodnight kiss from you."

"No." Benitsubasa didn't need Madoka making those jokes too.

"OK, I'm done." Madoka smiled. While perhaps a little too reminiscent of Sukaime at times, it was nice to see him like this. He'd loosened up a lot. She could still remember back when they'd first met. He'd been impatient and short tempered, but it wasn't just that. Honestly, the same things could have been said, could still be said, about her. Madoka had been wound up so tight, resigned to whatever fate had been handed to him. She'd felt like an intruder to her own ashikabi, interrupting his life.

But now he looked alive. There had been times before when he'd seemed almost sluggish, going through the motions. Now she could practically feel the energy radiating off of him and she felt drawn to it, to him, more than ever.

**. . .**

"Well, it's really late, so I'm out. Good night." Madoka yawned. It had to have been getting close to midnight. A glance at the first clock he came across confirmed that. He made his way to his room, but it didn't take long for him to realize he was being shadowed. "Um, do you still need something?" he asked Benitsubasa.

"I-I'm ready to talk now. For real this time," she told him. Her expression was still one of uncertainty though.

"I guess I'm not doing anything tomorrow..." Madoka scratched the back of his head tiredly. "All right, let's do it." Considering he then led her to his bed, he probably could have chosen his words better, but she didn't seem to pick up on that. "I promise not to fall asleep, but I can't keep standing, sorry," he said as he reclined on his bed.

"It's fine," Benitsubasa replied and got onto the bed as well, reclining beside him. There was just enough room for both to lay there without constantly bumping elbows.

"So, what's up?"

"It's about me being a runaway," she told him. That got his attention. Was she finally going to tell him?

"Look, you don't _have_ to tell me that if you don't want to. I'm not upset about it anymore." The look on her face told him it was a sensitive matter for her.

"No, I want to. It's important." She took a deep breath. "I ran away from MBI. I was living with Satoru, but MBI wanted me for some reason. It wasn't just about my tuning anymore."

"What do you mean?" This was sounding almost ominous.

"I ran away because they told me they wanted to 'introduce me to someone.' I knew what that meant, they wanted to pick my ashikabi for me. They were planning to use me." He could see her jaw clench and her eyes narrow. "Satoru tried to stop me, he told me I couldn't know that, but... I should have waited, then I'd at least be stronger."

"Well, let's be honest. If you'd waited the timing would have been totally off and my life would still be boring as hell," Madoka tried to make her feel better. The way her lips twitched it had to have worked at least a little. "Why didn't you tell me this before? It doesn't seem like something you should have had to hide."

"You would have asked more questions back then. I wouldn't have been able to answer them. I know more now. It's not as simple as it seems." Her face became conflicted again, even nervous. He had to say she looked scared. He waited for her to speak, and when she did... "When I was on that bridge, fighting, she talked to me. She laughed at me. She knew who I was, and I get it now. She's who I would have been. I was supposed to be on the disciplinary squad. I could have been the one fighting against you or Minato. I would have been one of MBI's sick little pets!" Her entire body was shaking, eyes glistening but not yet loosing tears. "I would have been one of them and I would have liked it! My tuning would have been finished, I'd have been stronger, I'd have been at their beck and call to exterminate who I was ordered to, and I would have liked it!" The words came out, but her face wasn't that of someone mourning something they'd lost out on. She looked sick and dismayed. She pulled her knees up to her chest and hid her face behind them.

"H-hey-"

"I know what kind of person I am. I like hurting people too much. They would have let me do that, but they would have been using me. I don't want to be anyone's tool! That's what I would have been and I would have _liked _it because that's what my ashikabi would have wanted! It's so messed up! I'm messed up! Everything is so screwed up!" She repeatedly hit her head against her knees. Madoka could only stare, in awe of the fact that even as her voice broke she didn't shed a single tear.

"Stop that!" He grabbed her chin to keep her from bashing her head anymore. "You're fine, that's not who you are! You didn't want to be their tool and you aren't. You didn't let them, you stopped that from happening all on your own!" Madoka looked her in the eye until he saw that she'd taken in his words.

"B-but it would have been so easy... t-too easy..."

"Well, I certainly can't say the path you ended up on was easy." Madoka chuckled wryly. "I might have made it a bit too hard actually. Sorry." Benitsubasa pulled away from him, but kept looking at him out of the corner of her eye.

"I said it, so I have to ask. Wh-what do you want? From me..."

"I," Madoka muttered. He didn't know how to answer that. He hadn't seen that coming at all. Then he knew, but he hoped it wasn't a cop out. "I want you to be my sekirei, whatever you decide that means. I want to be your ashikabi, and we'll decide what that will involve. Just us." Benitsubasa stared at him, mouth agape and eyes wide, totally dumbstruck. Time seemed to freeze with her stuck like that for a short eternity.

The next thing he knew she was tackling him.

"I take it I answered correctly?" Madoka chuckled lightly. He remembered a time when a show of affection from Benitsubasa would have been annoying or just awkward. For some reason he hadn't wanted her to get close. Now he welcomed it. He was realizing how warm she could be when he let her.

"Something like that," Benitsubasa spoke softly from her position atop his chest. "I just wish it was that easy."

"We'll manage, I'm on your side now. I have been, but I'm going to act like it now. I'm sorry if I haven't always been there the way I should have. I know how I can get." Madoka knew he had issues, but after learning a bit about Benitsubasa's past, they felt rather insignificant. "Well, since you told me that, I suppose that means I have to live up to my end of things and tell you all my deep, dark secrets."

"N-no, you don't have to. I told you because it was important. If you don't want to tell me something you don't have to," Benitsubasa told him.

"Well, you might not want to hear it anyway," Madoka admitted. "And if I do tell you, you sure as hell can't tell Sukaime. Or Oriha, I don't think she'd take that well. In fact, just don't tell anyone."

"What are you talking about?" Benitsubasa frowned, suddenly looking suspicious.

"I hate to break it to you, but I'm not exactly pure and innocent. I'm nearly twenty now, I have a past."

"What does this have to do with hair?" Benitsubasa sounded puzzled, cocking an eyebrow. He supposed he could understand that.

"You'd be surprised." Madoka sighed. It was a really, really long story and he was tired and unsure he wanted to tell it. "It started just before I entered high school when I got my first girlfriend."

"First?" Benitsubasa narrowed her eyes at him.

"Yes, as in I'd never had one before, and now I did."

"And?"

"Yes I had more after her. I'm tainted. Is this going to be a problem? I told you you might not want to hear this." He shrugged helplessly. He couldn't go back and undate them.

"Just go on..." Benitsubasa lowered her head down onto his chest, looking a little deflated.

"Well, she was sort of the opposite of you in a lot of ways. The happy kind of person-"

"I already hate her."

"Yeah, don't we all." Madoka rolled his eyes. "She was obsessed with all of the stereotypical girly stuff. I mean, she effectively puked glitter and nail polish."

"Really, really... hate..."

"Are you done?"

"No."

"Oh boy..." Madoka shook his head. This was going to be fun. Like eating razors. "She wanted to be a stylist, work in fancy salons and play with peoples' hair. The only problem was she had trouble with her own hair sometimes, so she would make me do it. Thing is, I was really good at it. I almost, dare I say it, kinda found it fun, though that might have just been because I got to touch her-" That earned a throaty growl from the seemingly-but-not-at-all-harmless girl on top of him. "Not_ that_ kind of touch... when I was doing her hair." More growling. "I'm just being honest! I said I wasn't pure!"

"Go on dammit!"

"Well, I'm guessing she must have felt threatened or something that maybe I was actually better at the hair stuff then her because she stopped letting me help her with her hair, and by the end of my first year of high school she dumped me, after cheating on me, for some soccer jock that was a year older."

"Whore."

"Well..." Madoka had to give her that one. "Well, anyway, that's how I learned all the hair stuff. There's more, but you don't look like you want to hear it." He really wasn't sure he wanted to bring up the next part and the memories that went with it anyway.

"No. I want to know everything! I want to know you! You know all the important things about me. Before I met you, my life was what I spent with my tuner. After that, all I have is you... so..." She blushed, but looked determined to make him spill his guts.

"All right. All right, I'll keep going." He wasn't sure if he was talking to her or if he was talking himself into it. "About half way through my second year I met another girl. Hiromi." This one was going to hurt.

"Wait!" Benitsubasa interrupted him suddenly. She looked upset, like something was bothering her. She rolled off of him, biting her lip. "Y-you don't have to, I-I changed my mind. I get it, the past hurts too much." He saw her hand slip up and clutch at her own chest as if she was in pain herself. "When I'm ready to think about mine, maybe you'll be ready to think about yours."

"Yeah, maybe. Thanks." He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I'd tell you whenever you want though."

"No, you don-"

"Listen," Madoka stopped her. "I'm glad you're not forcing it out of me, but I realized something when you got hurt that night. You're someone I don't want to lose. You're pretty much my closest friend at this point. If I can't tell you something, who can I?" He wondered how she'd react to that, maybe he shouldn't have said friend. He wasn't sure he saw her as more than that, but wouldn't that make her upset? To his surprise, after a long moment of silence, her jaw hanging loosely, she grabbed him in a tight embrace. He was a little afraid she'd break his rib again.

"Th-that... I... umm, OK." She struggled to speak, face red. Finally she pulled away and breathing became less of a struggle. "I-I guess we should both go to bed now." Benitsubasa slowly slid off the bed.

"You don't _have_ to go, I guess." Madoka wasn't sure why he said that. Maybe he felt like she'd earned it if she wanted. He was pretty sure she always wanted. Benitsubasa smiled but shrugged.

"W-well, I don't think Sukaime sleeps properly without me there. She's clingy." She seemed to regain her composure, even though her cheeks were staying a distinct rosy shade.

"Well, god forbid she doesn't sleep well. I'm sure she'd find a way to make us all miserable." Madoka kicked his shoes off and climbed under the blankets.

"Exactly." Benitsubasa flipped her ponytail back over her shoulder for style points as she headed to the door where she stopped and looked back. "Good night, Madoka-kun."

"Good night."

**. . .**

"_Good night, Madoka-kun!" For some reason, saying that felt good. She felt tempted to say his name like that a few more times just for the sake of it._

"_Yeah, good night," he replied and shut the light off before leaving._

She remembered it, a long time ago now, when she'd first gotten there. A week of near dead-silence, struggling just to have one happy moment, finally broken by her first fight. He'd stood where she was right now, saying good night to her. Their first good day, punctuated by a good ending. After the beating from Mitama, he'd given her his bed. She'd slept well that night, and not just because she'd had his bed. For just a little while she'd felt secure. That feeling was back.

She'd never let anyone take that feeling from her again.

"Friends won't cut it forever, Madoka-kun," she whispered to herself as she left.

* * *

><p><strong>No action this time, but a hell of a lot of plot I would say. We finally learn a bit of Benitsubasa's "mysterious" past. We also learn what I've put into this fic to make it stand out a little. "Experimental Sekirei." I feel like even in the canon material the 100 level sekirei are kind of special. Just look at Kusano and Shiina.<strong>

**Well normally I'd be talking about reviews here. Now I'm kind of lost...**

**I will say that someone compared my version of Benitsubasa to Goku. I find this hilarious and actually a little true.**

**I suppose I should still thank everyone for their reviews, because I do read all of them and enjoy them thoroughly. You guys are awesome. And girls. I think there might be a girl or two.**

**If you don't review though you can just go straight to hell.**

**. . . OK fine you non-reviewers are cool too. Being favorited and followed is nice as well.**

**Til' next time.**


	24. Second Special

**It's time for another special with a special title! I actually forgot I'd written this somehow, but fortunately remembered just in time to post it in the correct order. Ideally I would have posted this a week or two ago.**

* * *

><p><strong>Full Circle<strong>

"No, come back, I wanna kiss the cook!" Sukaime chased Oriha into the living room.

"Back off!" Oriha vaulted the couch, disturbing Benitsubasa who was sitting upon it.

"Knock it off! Am I the only adult in this house?" The pink haired girl complained.

"Then you should help with the dishes while the children play," Kaie said, peeking her head into the living room.

"I'm fine..." Benitsubasa muttered, turning away. A moment later, she felt a weight lean against the back of the couch and arms wrap around her neck.

"Sooo, what were you and Madoka-kun up to? Disappearing all night, coming home after we were all asleep. You were doing _something_!" Sukaime accused her.

"We just... went to see my tuner!" Benitsubasa replied. Oriha was surprised at this level of honesty. Sukaime hadn't even had to aggravate her into spilling the truth. It seemed Kaie wasn't interested in hearing Benitsubasa's story, because she headed back to the kitchen to assist Madoka with the clean-up after dinner.

"Ooh, what's he like?" Sukaime asked.

"He's a pervert who likes little girls," Benitsubasa replied deadpan. Oriha didn't know what to make of this, but Sukaime's face was split between shock and amusement. "He raised me from when I was little and took care of my tuning, why do you care?"

"Well we've all had tuners! It's the one thing we without fail have in common! Why not share?" Sukaime shrugged, letting go of Benitsubasa who was starting to squirm under her grasp. "I remember mine, he was a cocky bastard! Going on about how I was special and how impressive I was and how studying me was going to make him famous and better than all the other tuners or some crap like that." Oriha felt this explained a lot about Sukaime.

"Not surprising," Benitsubasa spoke. Apparently she agreed.

"Apparently my tuning data was important. I think he was actually kind of annoyed that he had to share it with other tuners."

"You don't say?" The way Benitsubasa was slouched forward, head lazily resting in her palm, one could tell she was absolutely riveted.

"So we have an arrogant prick, a pedophile, and now it's your turn Oriha! Tell us about your tuner!" Sukaime turned her attention on Oriha.

"She raised me and took care of my tuning," she quoted Benitsubasa.

"Oh, so we have our first female tuner!" Sukaime said. "Interesting. I bet she's the one who taught you how to cook!"

"Well who else would have? It's not like I had time to stop and take lessons while I was wandering the streets!" Oriha scoffed. "Satisfied?"

"Geez, tough crowd!" Sukaime planted her hands on her hips, looking miffed. "But hey, you ever see your tuner again, tell her thanks for doing such a good job."

"We're done." Kaie walked back into the room with an exasperated sigh.

"See how fast that was? You didn't need us! It gets crowded with more than two people." Sukaime grinned. "Now tell us about your tuner."

"Why?" Kaie raised an eyebrow.

"Because we're sharing."

"She's bored," Oriha suggested.

"Fine. My tuner was kind and took good care of u-... me." Kaie shrugged, crossing her arms quickly.

"What was that? You meant to say something else," Sukaime accused. "Don't hide things from us!"

"I had to share my tuner, OK?" Kaie finally admitted after a long pause. The rest of them traded confused glances before looking back at Kaie.

"Really?" they said in unison, earning more confused glances.

"I guess I'm just not as special as you." Kaie frowned and left the room again.

"Umm, what's up with Kaie?" Madoka walked in right as she was leaving.

"Oh nothing. We were just having some sekirei talk," Sukaime said.

"OK?"

"It's like girl talk. Private."

**. . .**

Oriha was feeling restless. Ever since the talk about their tuners she'd been uneasy. She couldn't stop thinking about the woman who'd raised her. She felt lonely sometimes. Madoka's attention was perpetually split between the four of them. She yearned for someone she could talk to. Her tuner had been like her mother, or at least as close as she would ever get. She didn't know what to expect from a real mother. She didn't know if she even had a real mother out there somewhere. Her own existence as a sekirei was a mystery to even her.

She still remembered where she'd lived. She knew she could find her way back if she wanted. Benitsubasa had done it, maybe she could too. It would be nice to see the woman again. She decided she'd do it. She had time to kill anyway.

One morning after Madoka and Kaie left, waited until she thought no one was looking and quickly headed to the door.

"Where you going?" Oriha nearly shed her skin in a fit of panic. She'd never even heard Sukaime coming.

"N-nowhere! None of your business!" Oriha glared tearfully, trying to calm her heart.

"I know you've still been sneaking out of the house almost everyday after Madoka goes to work. One of these days you're gonna have to tell me where you're going." Sukaime crossed her arms.

"Why should I?" Oriha slipped halfway out the door, leaving it between them with only one eye left to peer back at Sukaime.

"Fine, keep your secrets. Maybe I'll just follow you someday when you think I'm not paying attention." Sukaime grinned.

"Freak!" Oriha growled and shut the door. Why did Sukaime think everything was her business? It was infuriating. No wonder Benitsubasa was always in a bad mood, normally she was the target of Sukaime's antics.

Oriha was now standing alone on the sidewalk. It was always nice to get out of the cramped house, and alone at that. Sometimes she got claustrophobic. The small house, everyone else around, eyes always watching, ears always listening. It was rare moments like this she felt like she could stretch out and really breathe. Sure she'd just recently been complaining about being lonely, but lonely didn't necessarily mean free.

She began walking. She wasn't really sure how to get to her destination from her new home, at least not quickly, but she knew she'd find her way eventually. It just might take a while.

An hour later she felt hopelessly lost. She kept having to backtrack to find places she knew before she could try again to find her way. Two hours after that she was finally starting to feel like she was on track. It had only been a few months, but she was surprised to find her memory of where she used to live was already blurry.

And then she was there, almost walking past it. It was just the way she remembered it. Her memory suddenly felt crystal clear. It was a small dwelling fit for a small family, though she didn't recall ever seeing anyone else. Considering the fact that only people involved in the "plan" were allowed to know about sekirei, that didn't surprise her.

She walked up to the door, but hesitated. What should she say? Was her tuner even home? Would her tuner be happy to see her? She had nothing but happy memories of her time there, how bad could it be? She went ahead and knocked, and soon heard footsteps and the door opened revealing a familiar face. She stood before a tall, middle-aged woman with black hair tied back into a bun and a set of thin framed glasses.

"Wh-... Oriha? What are you doing here? You should have been winged by now." The woman frowned.

"I-I was, I ju-"

"Then you have no reason to be here, go back to your ashikabi." The woman sighed, and looked ready to close the door.

"Wait! A-am I not allowed to be here? I lived with you for years-"

"Yes, and now our time together is done. You don't need to be here anymore." The woman began to shut the door, but Oriha's hand shot out. "Wh-"

"You know you're not strong enough to close the door on me. Why won't you talk to me?" Oriha asked, her voice subdued and her head hung. This wasn't what she remembered, this wasn't right. Had she been wrong?

"Fine, I'll give you a minute," the woman grumbled and walked away from the door. Oriha followed her in, suddenly feeling grossly out of place in the house she'd been raised in. The cramped one-bedroom house Madoka lived in felt more open than where she was now. The walls were closing in on her here.

"Why did you try to get rid of me?" Oriha asked.

"Oriha..." The woman let out a long sigh. "You're a product of MBI, that's all. I took care of your tuning until you were ready to leave. My job is done now. I no longer have any more reasons to keep you in my home." Every word was like a hammer blow to Oriha's chest. Her knees started trembling. She didn't know who her real mother was, or if she even had one, and now the closest thing she'd had... or thought she'd had, was rejecting her.

"B-b-but..." Benitsubasa had been downright dangerous to be around for days, and then one trip to her tuner later she'd come home and all that aggression had practically disappeared. What had Benitsubasa done to deserve that? Why had Benitsubasa's trip to her tuner gone so well?

"I had to live alone for over a decade to raise you, I couldn't tell anyone outside of MBI about my work, I had to keep secrets from friends and family. I'm done with that now, I want to move on! I don't even have some of those friends anymore!" The woman growled, hands clenching into fists. "I can't have you around because I can't explain you!" Oriha found herself backing away, trembling. Then she stopped a moment and looked around. The house hadn't changed at all. The woman claimed she wanted to move on, but it had been months and Oriha couldn't pick out a single significant change.

"D-does someone else live here?" Oriha asked. Her tuner was quiet for a while, but then shook her head. "Are you expecting anyone?" She was answered by another hesitant shake of the woman's head.

"None of that means I want you to stay," the woman made it clear. Oriha wasn't quite ready to give up though, she hadn't wandered around for three hours to quit after only two minutes. She refused to believe her tuner resented her so much.

"It's almost lunch time," Oriha pointed out. "Y-you must be getting hungry."

"Perhaps. And?"

"Let me cook for you! I've gotten better!" Oriha insisted.

"I tell you that I don't want you around, and now you want to stay for lunch?" The woman looked at her incredulously. However, Oriha must have managed to stare her down. "Fine, I guess it'll save me the trouble. You remember where the kitchen is."

"Th-thank you, um, T-Takara-san." Oriha wasn't sure how the woman wanted to be addressed, so she went with the safest option she could think of. Takara only grunted and moved out of her way.

Oriha went to the kitchen and got started, not wanting to give her tuner time to change her mind. It just didn't make sense to her that her tuner didn't like her. Fine, maybe it had just been her job to take care of Oriha, but then why teach her how to cook? She still remembered the lessons. They'd been painstaking and long. Why would she have put so much effort into teaching her something if she hated her?

In the end she might have overdone it, but she wanted to show off. Maybe if he tuner was impressed by her cooking it would put her in a good mood. She put the food on a plate and carried it out to where her tuner was waiting, only to find her sitting with a recently opened bottle alcohol.

"Um, isn't it a bit early to-"

"I live alone, who cares what time it is? I'm not going anywhere," her tuner snapped. "I thought you were cooking lunch, what the hell is that?"

"Oh, I-I just wanted to prove that I meant it when I said I'd gotten better. I wanted to m-make something special for you." Oriha gulped nervously.

"Fine. Where's your plate, or are you on a starvation diet?" Her tuner rolled her eyes and took the plate from her. Oriha quickly got a plate of her own and then joined her tuner.

"So, you have until I finish eating. What do you want to say?" Takara sighed and started eating. She immediately stopped, looked down at the plate, but then kept eating. Oriha decided that meant she liked it.

"Well, I don't know. I don't want to bother you if you don't want me to," Oriha said. She had a lot of things to say, but she didn't want to bother if her tuner didn't even want her around.

"Suits me," her tuner muttered and poured herself a drink. This left Oriha sitting there, eating in awkward silence. She remembered her date with Madoka, that had started awkwardly as well, but it had ended well thanks to Madoka. What were the chances of this ending well? She wondered.

After a while, Takara's cheeks began to turn a rosy hue. Her posture deteriorated until it could hardly be considered a womanly pose, slouched over and legs parted just a little too much. At least she was wearing a long skirt, though Oriha supposed that they were both women so it didn't really matter in the end.

"I don't know why you bothered coming back," Takara slurred a little. "What made you think I'd be happy to see you?"

"I... don't know..." Oriha admitted. "I just didn't have any bad memories... so..."

"I practically kicked you out and locked the door behind you, moron!" Takara squinted.

"I-I thought that was j-just because it was time for me to find my ashikabi." Oriha looked away. She was left wondering how many of her memories she'd slanted the wrong way.

"What? You thought that was tough love or some shit like that? Pfft!" Takara laughed and then hiccuped, taking another drink. "No! I just couldn't stand looking at you anymore! I was glad to get rid of you!"

"Wh-what?" Oriha's heart practically stopped. Why was she detested so much?

"You're nothing but bad memories! Too goddamn clingy and always chasing my coat tails! You think I needed that? You were just a pain!" The woman pointed an accusing finger at her.

"Bad... memories?" That didn't make sense to Oriha. She shut her eyes, she needed to think. No, she was certain she'd never done anything so horrible. She did remember one thing though, something had changed before she left. Takara had become distant, stopped paying her as much attention. She'd always thought it was because she didn't want it to hurt when she finally had to make Oriha leave, but maybe that wasn't it. "No! You didn't hate me! Stop acting like you hate me now! Tell me the truth!"

"What? You think you can just demand that I like you!" Takara's fist came down on the table. "You cocky little-"

"Just stop it! You said I was nothing but bad memories! What does that mean? I always thought you were like my mother, why are you doing this to me?" Oriha shouted to keep Takara from cutting her off. She was nearly in tears at this point, but she wasn't going to stop until she made Takara explain herself.

"Shut up!" Takara stood, clearly enraged. "A mother? I'm not your damn mother! I_ had_ a real daughter, and because of you I couldn't be around her and now she's dead! I was stuck raising you for fifteen fucking years, and that's what I got out of it! You're just a reminder of everything that's wrong with my life!" The woman fell back down to her chair and began sobbing into the table, arms around her head.

Oriha stood and backed away from the table. So that was it. That's all that she was now, just a bearer of bad memories. She felt horrible. The woman in front of her looked so broken and somehow she'd been involved in making that happen. She'd had no idea what kind of burden she'd been.

She wanted to leave, she didn't want to see this anymore. She wanted to go back to Madoka and forget all of this. She wanted to go back to when her tuner had been a good memory for her and her, back when her life hadn't been the cause of such pain. But she knew she could never go back to that.

She dragged her chair around and sat next to Takara.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled. "What happened?"

"An overdose. I didn't even know her life had gone so down hill until it was too late." Takara shuddered as her sobbing continued. "Why do you even care? Leave me alone!"

"Because I owe you a lot. I don't want you to hate me anymore."

"But you..." Takara took a deep breath and let it out. "I can't even blame you. You didn't even know I had a daughter." Takara lifted her head up and looked at her. "You said I was like your mother? Well that's the whole problem. That mother-daughter relationship thing just made me think of my real daughter. That's all I could think of whenever I looked at you."

"That's why you started avoiding me." Oriha could remember it clearly now. The last year or so they'd been together had been more tense. Oriha had never really understood it until now.

"You were never really easy you know. I couldn't even take pride in my work." Takara sniffled. "I had to work with other tuners, and one in particular especially. That guy was the worst, a huge jerk. He was always saying the only reason I was going to accomplish anything with you was because of the data he was sending me. Just because the sekirei he was tuning had slightly similar abilities. God damn levitating weapons."

"Um..." Oriha had to ask, she just had to. "N-number ninety-nine?"

"Wh-... how did yo-" Oriha cut her off when she let out a long sigh and buried her face in her hands.

"Because I live with her," Oriha said, voice muffled by her palms. "Sukaime. She drives me insane." For a long time the two just sat there quietly. Eventually Takara's hiccuping broke the silence.

"So... does she live up to all the hype?" Takara grumbled.

"Pff, I've had to save her at least three times." Oriha rolled her eyes.

"Ha!" Takara was definitely pleased by that. Perhaps things were finally looking up? "You know, I did my best. You sekirei were sent out in batches, a few months apart. You and 99 were separate batches, and her being the smaller number she was sent out ahead of you. I didn't get you until six months after 99 had gotten to her tuner. This of course meant he was always one or two tests ahead of me. I tried to catch up, but I couldn't risk hurting you, so I never really could. Altering genetic structures is something you just don't rush. I mean, how would you have felt about having two heads or something?"

"W-was that actually possible?" Oriha gulped.

"Eh, probably not. I heard about one sekirei whose tuning didn't take though. She was scrapped. _That_ could have happened if I wasn't careful, though you weren't quite so much at risk." That sounded familiar too. Hadn't Benitsubasa fought someone like that?

"I'm sorry I made your life more difficult. I didn't know," Oriha said somberly. "I didn't mean to bring it all up again."

"Ohhh, I know you didn't," the woman groaned and rubbed her eyes. "I'm an idiot for yelling at you. You're barely more than a girl. You didn't need to hear all that on top of whatever you're already dealing with."

"No, I'm glad you said it. I'm glad you could let it out." Oriha smiled.

"Now you're just making me look like a jerk." Takara scowled. "Fine, you want me to be your mom? Why not? Let's get right to the good stuff then, who's your ashikabi? I figure that's as close to a boyfriend you're gonna get." Oriha blushed.

"Oh, umm, his name is Madoka." She fidgeted nervously. "I love him."

**. . .**

Oriha pulled away from Takara, ending their long embrace. She smelled like alcohol, but Oriha could ignore it long enough.

"You can come back any time, OK? I swear, I'm not going to sober up and forget all this. I'm not _that _drunk." Even as she said that, the woman stumbled a little, tripping over her own feet.

"Thanks... mom." Oriha saw Takara's eyes glisten with tears when she said that. The woman leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.

"Go get him. And remember what I told you." Oriha nodded in response and stepped back so Takara could close the front door. She was sad to be leaving, but she felt light on her feet, like if she wanted to she could actually spread her wings and use them to fly. As she headed back home, she couldn't help but twirl around once, arms held out wide and dress flaring.

It hadn't been what she'd expected, but she was happy. She felt at peace and hopeful.

**. . .**

She knew where she was going this time, so it didn't take her nearly as long to get home. It was still a fairly long walk though. That said, being a sekirei let her take a few shortcuts most people wouldn't be able to... such as running across a rooftop or two. It was about as close to flying as she was going to get.

She made it home with just enough time to cook dinner before Madoka and Kaie returned. Obviously Sukaime interrogated her ruthlessly as to why she was so happy. However, Oriha was pretty sure the amount of humming she was doing while she cooked actually became creepy to Sukaime, and so she was eventually left alone. She wondered how Sukaime would react if she knew exactly what had become of her tuning data.

When Madoka came home, he didn't suspect she'd even gone anywhere, and Sukaime and Benitsubasa didn't say anything. She wondered why, but she wasn't going to complain. She didn't want to tell anyone anything just yet. She was happy, so for today she'd just leave it that way.

There was _one_ thing she wanted to do though. After everyone cleared out of the kitchen, this time she stayed to help clean up, telling Madoka he could go relax while Kaie stayed. When they were done, Kaie did what she often did and pulled out her deck of cards.

"Does that ever get boring?" Oriha asked.

"Not really. Unlike the rest of you, I actually go somewhere everyday," Kaie replied. "So I can stock shelves..." She sighed.

"At least you get to see Madoka."

"I guess." Kaie didn't seem that happy about it. "It's not as great as the rest of you seem to think. We don't have that much time to talk. The owner calls it slacking if he catches us."

"Oh," Oriha mumbled. "Um, hey, w-will you teach me?" She pointed at the deck of cards. This got Kaie's attention and she looked surprised.

"Why now?"

"Why not?" Oriha shrugged. Kaie stared at her, and then looked down at her cards.

"OK." Kaie began dividing the cards.

"Thanks." Oriha did her best to smile. She found it wasn't that hard.

"Yeah... sure."

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><p><strong>And that's the Oriha special. This is probably the shortest chapter yet, but I'm actually happy with how it came out. It's not quite what I pictured in my head when I first came up with this idea, but that was so long ago I can't remember all the fine details.<strong>

**The usual, full-sized normal chapter will be posted next weekend instead of this weekend. But hey, this just means you get more content in one month!**

**Til' next time!**


	25. I Hate Phone Calls

**Why hello there. Welcome back. Or welcome new guy or girl who's marathoning his or her way through this entire fic. Please don't die like the original Marathon guy. Anyway, having fun? I hope so.**

**Time for more fun.**

* * *

><p><strong>I Hate Phone Calls<strong>

To the outside observer, Avaron must have seemed a very specific kind of person. Reserved, kindly, careful, neat, and well behaved. They never would have suspected that whenever she could get away with it she slept at the very least until ten in the morning, other times getting up just in time for lunch. They probably would be surprised to learn she despised cleaning and would probably make a washing machine explode if she tried to use one.

These realizations would be especially surprising because her house was so clean. To be fair, it was a rather big house for just two people, so it would take more effort than she was willing to give to trash the whole place. Avaron also had a secret weapon, and her name was Masukagami. She didn't even have to be asked, Masukagami would just go ahead and do most of the chores that needed to be done. She actually seemed to enjoy it, happily humming her way through each task.

It was good that she did the work so happily, else Avaron would have felt more guilty than she already did about letting her do so much work. She'd have helped more, but that led back to the exploding washing machine problem. Her "assistance" would probably just make everything twice as hard and take three times as long. She could use a vacuum at least, but she hated the noise they made, and that was probably the chore that least needed to be done. There were no animals shedding fur, and they didn't get much foot traffic in and out of the house.

Avaron's lazy lifestyle was quickly becoming a source of infuriating boredom. She had no hobbies, and even Masukagami was running out of meaningless conversational topics. There was another problem on top of this. She could feel it inside her, it was only a matter of time before she did something to Masukagami again.

Masukagami was always so happy, and that should have made her feel at peace. For a while it had, but now it just made her feel sick. It wasn't that Masukagami disgusted her, it wasn't that kind of sick. It was a sickness of worry. She was scared for Masukagami, afraid that her fragile happiness would shatter. She was afraid because all that happiness was on her shoulders. If Avaron did something wrong, Masukagami would start crying again.

As she wandered through the depressingly empty halls, her gaze fell upon her cellphone where it lying upon a small corner table. A thought entered her mind and she started to feel dizzy and began breathing fast. She didn't feel good. She tried to shut her mind off for just a moment and calm down, but she couldn't. Her heart was pounding. She needed to leave.

No, leaving was bad. If she left, she might do something she'd regret. If she stayed, there was Masukagami. If she left, she could just lie and everyone would be happy, right? She'd have to start lying now.

She found Masukagami folding laundry.

"Oh, Avaron-sama! I just started, I'll be done soon. Don't worry, I won't let any of your dresses get wrinkled!" Masukagami assured her.

"I know, that's why you do it and not me. I'd wrinkle everything." Avaron put on a false smile. She couldn't let Masukagami start worrying like she tended to anytime she got suspicious. She always knew when Avaron wasn't feeling right. It was something she both adored and despised about Masukagami.

"Well, if you'd let me teach you, it's not that hard!"

"No no, actually I was thinking of going for a walk while you handle this, I just wanted to tell you so you wouldn't wonder where I was," Avaron told her.

"Oh, I can go with you. I can finish this any time." Masukagami moved to stand up.

"Could you please finish it now? That way later on if we want to spend time together, there won't be anything hanging over your head," Avaron insisted. She saw Masukagami pout a little, but she nodded. "Good girl! I won't be too long. I just need some fresh air." With that handled, she quickly retrieved her cellphone and headed outside. She walked for a few minutes and then looked at the time on her phone, and then dialed.

"Hello, Madoka-kun." Her lips twisted into a smirk.

**. . .**

Madoka had been confused. He was still confused actually. Avaron had called him in the middle of work. Apparently she wanted to see him during his lunch break, so he supposed it made sense that she would call beforehand, but then why not text him? She hadn't even needed to text him, he would have been fine if she showed up unannounced. It was a lunch break, if she wanted to make it more interesting he'd welcome it.

He was nervous though, the last time she'd called him and suddenly wanted to see him things had gotten awkward. Awkward as in lip contact. He couldn't say he'd hated it, but it hadn't exactly been something he'd wanted. He did want to see her though, and regardless he'd have felt bad turning her down. He owed her for saving Benitsubasa.

"Sorry about this," Madoka said to Kaie when their break rolled around. He'd warned her ahead of time that he'd be stepping out to talk to Avaron. "I don't know why she's insisting on talking alone, but... well, she's weird."

"It's fine." Kaie nodded. "Try to save a little time for me though." She smiled.

"I'll try." He chuckled and then headed out the store's back door. He found Avaron already waiting in the alleyway. It wasn't like he enjoyed meeting women in alleyways, but she'd insisted on talking alone.

"Madoka-kun." Avaron nodded in greeting.

"Hi," Madoka replied. "So, uh, before you say anything... thanks again, for showing up. We kinda just parted ways after we got back to my place that night. I never had a chance to properly thank you. If you hadn't been there, Benitsubasa..."

"Of course. I couldn't have just left you there. It's not that I didn't have faith in you, but when you said there was another sekirei there I didn't want to risk leaving you there alone."

"Yeah... heh, I thought of grabbing you flowers or something, but our store doesn't have any. What am I saying, that would have just been awkward anyway." Madoka laughed nervously. Seriously, what the hell _was_ he saying? If Avaron hadn't been there, he'd have kicked himself. If she hadn't been there it wouldn't have been an issue. Avaron giggled and looked him in the eye.

"Not at all. I wouldn't have minded." She smiled, but it wasn't a humorous smile. It was a smile that made him realize his anxiety over meeting her hadn't been misplaced.

"Flowers from a guy? Wouldn't that bother Masukagami?" Madoka asked with a nervous laugh, trying to defuse the situation before it got worse. It certainly got a reaction out of her, but it wasn't what he expected. He could see her jaw tighten and her fists clenched.

"What do you know about me and Masukagami?" Avaron asked, her voice an angry snarl. "Nothing!" she snapped.

"I-I'm sorry?"

"You don't know what it's like for me to be with her!" she shouted. "You don't know what my life was like before I met her! Without her I..." She took a deep, shuddering breath. "She's the best thing that ever happened to me, but I can't make her happy! Do you know what that's like? I didn't know what it meant when I winged her! I didn't know I would be expected to love her like that!"

"So you... d-don't?" Madoka was cringing in fear at this point. Where had all this come from?

"Of course I do!" Avaron nearly blew his ears out with that one. "That's why I can't stand it! I can't give her the kind of love she wants! I'm a girl! Look at me!"

"Y-yeah. Girl, definitely." Madoka nodded rapidly.

"You're lucky! You can give your sekirei whatever they want! There's nothing stopping you, not like what's stopping me! I don't know if I can make myself feel that way about her!" Avaron clutched at her hair. She just stood that way for a while, and soon Madoka realized she'd stopped shouting.

"H-hey, uh." Madoka reached out to put a hand on her shoulder. He'd never realized there was such a powder keg of emotion inside Avaron. This explained a lot of things. Unfortunately, he forgot one other thing about Avaron. She was unpredictable. The moment he touched her, she flew into motion again. She threw all her weight against him and quickly had him pressed against the alley wall.

Before he could ask her what she was doing, his lips became occupied – by her lips. This wasn't the quick kiss she'd given him last time, there was a hungry desperation to this one. This kiss was scaring him, because it was threatening to make his mind go blank. He had to gather his will and grab her shoulders to push her away, freeing his mouth so he could take a deep breath.

"What the hell are you doing?" he asked, in a state of bewilderment.

"Isn't that better?" she asked. Her expression had changed again. It was a little disturbing, predatory... fractured.

"N-no?" What did she mean by that?

"It's easier, isn't it?" She titled her head. "I have to deal with all of these feelings, but I can never let them out, not with Masukagami. She wants love, _closeness_, but it doesn't feel right with her. Isn't it easier for you too? Four sekirei, and they all want you. This way you don't have to pick." There it was, one of his biggest worries. He'd spent an evening with Oriha, kissed her, made out with her really, but he hadn't "picked" her. He'd taken Benitsubasa that night to make her feel better, basically a date, but he hadn't "picked" her either. They were slowly drawing him in and he found himself attracted to them more and more. He wanted to be there for all of them, he wanted to be able to get close to all of them, and it hurt when he saw them troubled or upset. Wouldn't it all come crashing down the moment he chose one of them over the others?

He felt his arms relax for just a moment, and it was impossible to say why. Did part of him agree with Avaron? Was he just distracted by his own turmoil? Whatever the reason, Avaron took the opportunity to pounce. Once against his lips were assaulted by hers. He felt her tongue push against his lips, seeking entry. Part of his body instinctively tried to part his lips to let her in. He had to deal with all those feelings of desire too, wouldn't it really just be easier to give into Avaron and finally have an outlet for it all? But just how was choosing her any less painful to them? It wasn't easier at all, it was just convenient right now.

He felt her tongue brush against his teeth, teasing the tip of his tongue. He quickly tightened his lips and turned away, stopping her from getting any further. That had been too far as it was. He didn't want to say the strength of his willpower was inversely proportional to how far her tongue got into his mouth, but at the same time it was a lot easier to stop her now rather than wait until clothes began coming off.

He pushed her away again and looked at her. He saw a girl with long, black hair and a lustful look on her face, desiring him. She licked her lips and blinked slowly, staring into his eyes. He could see himself kissing her, pushing her down, twining his body with hers, and ripping at her clothes. He covered his eyes with his hand. What the hell was wrong with him? Why was he thinking about that? He didn't need that now.

"You need to leave. Go home. Figure things out with Masukagami. I'm not the answer you're looking for. I'm not as easy as you think I am," he told her, keeping his eyes covered.

"Fine," he heard her mutter. She wasn't happy. "I'll see you around, I suppose." He finally uncovered his eyes when he heard her walking away. She glanced over her shoulder back at him and smirked. As she continued walking she began to exaggerate the sway of her hips to tease him. He wasn't sure if it was good or bad, but his first thought was that Sukaime was better at it. He wished he didn't have to go back to work. He needed a very, very cold shower.

**. . .**

In the end, Madoka decided to keep what had happened to himself. Clearly Avaron was having some trouble, and he knew his sekirei wouldn't tolerate her anymore if they found out what she'd done. Unfortunately, Kaie could tell something had happened, leaving him with the choice of either telling her, or hiding things from her. Of course he'd already decided what he'd do, but actually having to consciously choose to lie to her when she asked what was wrong left him feeling guilty.

What had he just said to Benitsubasa, that she was his best friend? If he couldn't talk to her... but how could he? No matter how close they were it wouldn't help, in fact it would probably make things worse. Out of all his sekirei, she was the worst when it came to jealousy. No, he was alone on this one. With any luck Avaron would listen to him and it would end here.

When he got home, Oriha already had dinner going as usual. As he walked through the house, he wasn't doing himself any favors. He may as well have worn a sign saying that something was bothering him. He managed to take a seat at the kitchen table without being questioned though, but he simply couldn't set his mind at ease. Now he was surrounded by all four of them, and was keeping a secret from all four of them. He'd never had this kind of trouble before. He hadn't had this trouble the first time Avaron kissed him, but that time hadn't been nearly as intense.

There was no way that was it though. He'd been kissed before plenty of times, but he'd never gotten this worked up over it. He'd never felt this guilty about it. Even now he didn't feel any burning urge to confess to Benitsubasa or anyone else what he'd done with Oriha that night. That had certainly been more intense than what had happened with Avaron.

Perhaps it was that until now he just hadn't cared as much. He felt a growing bond toward each of the girls he'd ended up living with, and he felt no such bond with Avaron. Perhaps he felt like she'd violated something and crossed some line that she shouldn't have. Perhaps it was because despite it all, part of him had enjoyed it. It was true he had no special bond with Avaron, but that made her much less intimidating. There were no strings attached with her. There was just something about her...

"Here you go Madoka-kun, I hope you like it!" He was startled out of his thoughts as Oriha came over to him and placed a plate in front of him. "And this too!" She quickly made it clear what she meant by that when she leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. He flinched like she'd shocked him and pulled away from her. Eyes wide, he looked at her and felt guilt for something entirely different. So wrapped up in his inner turmoil and gun shy after Avaron's attack, he'd reacted poorly, and Oriha's face let him know it. She looked hurt, but he didn't know what to do. Everyone else was already staring at them.

"S-sorry, you surprised me," was all Madoka could think to say. It was true, but the smile Oriha threw on was so clearly fake he knew it wasn't good enough.

"No, it's my fault. Don't worry," Oriha said and passed out plates for everyone else.

"Where's my kiss?" Sukaime complained. At least it served as a good distraction.

The rest of dinner was comparatively calm. Perhaps it was a little too calm. Madoka didn't feel like talking, and Oriha seemed to be putting all her energy into pretending she wasn't upset. Benitsubasa was busy glaring jealously, and Kaie just wasn't talkative anyway. With everyone else so quiet, even Sukaime seemed to have run out of things to say. It must have been torture for her.

After dinner, Madoka thought he might have an opportunity to talk to Oriha and apologize properly as she did the dishes, but Kaie stayed to help. He couldn't think of a good reason to ask her to leave, so he bit his tongue and just worked to get the job done as fast as possible. Now the silence was starting to become torture for _him_. He wanted Oriha alone, but he couldn't just say that, it would give the wrong idea. He had enough problems without sparking jealousy in everyone all over again.

He was afraid he was going to break a plate as he washed them. He was white knuckling. It was just a simple thing, trying to give an apology, but somehow it felt ten times bigger of an ordeal than that. He couldn't believe he was letting himself get so worked up. Finally he was done.

"Thanks for helping," he forced himself to speak calmly to Kaie. In his mind he wanted to pick her up and toss her out of the room.

"Of course." She nodded. She turned to leave and it felt like she was walking slowly on purpose. He was sure that was how fast she always walked, but at the moment...

"H-hey, uh, I'm a little behind on a few chores, think you could help me?" He turned to Oriha. She looked at him curiously, but nodded. She didn't seem all that excited, and he could have sworn she looked like she thought she was being punished.

He led her to her room, walking quickly, his long legs making it hard for Oriha to keep up. He made it to his room, and then closed the door behind them. He actually found himself clenching and opening his hands repeatedly. He felt like his head was going to explode. He wasn't even trying to explain what the hell was going on inside him anymore.

"Um, wh-what did you need help with?" Oriha asked, looking at his closed door in confusion.

"Nothing," he admitted, letting out a sigh. "I'm sorry," he said.

"I-I told you, it was my f-" He didn't give her a chance to finish. He grabbed her wrists and pushed her up against his wall. He couldn't help himself. This had been building up slowly. Avaron had just pushed him over the edge. He needed an outlet, and Oriha had put herself into his cross-hairs. He couldn't deny he liked her, and right now he needed her. Before she could say anything, he buried her lips beneath his. He felt her squirm beneath him, he could feel her struggling to free her arms. He saw her wings spread, painting his walls violet.

He felt guilty again, he felt like he was using her, forcing her. He let go of her wrists, but he didn't want to stop. He knew she could stop him, so if that's what she wanted he'd let her. It wasn't what she wanted. She grabbed his face and pulled him deeper into it. He wasn't going to let it stop like last time, in fact he wasn't sure where he'd stop.

"Ah!" The noises that came out of her only excited him further as his tongue worked its way into her mouth. She didn't struggle, her own tongue surrendering to his. His hands made their way to her hips, feeling their curve. With her dress he couldn't fully make out the shape of her figure, but his hands could feel it out. His hands then began a journey upward, up her thin, tight waist, approaching her chest, closer and closer and... he pulled away.

"What the hell is that?" Madoka asked. Oriha blinked a few times, coming back to reality. Her eyes went wide, they could both hear it. It sounded like a siren. He could also hear footsteps rapidly approaching. Madoka, with great reluctance, pulled himself away from Oriha and turned toward the door. He did it just in time for it to fly open and slam into his face. "FUCK!" He stumbled and fell to a knee, clutching his aching cheek.

"Madoka-kun! Ah, are you OK? I'm sorry!" It was Sukaime. "Uh, um, b-but it's important! Hurry!" She turned on her heel and bolted back out of the room.

"This better be good," Madoka groaned, standing back up with Oriha's help. He was a little worried really, for Sukaime to be so fretful it must have been serious. He was kind of hoping that Sukaime was just putting on a really good act. But unless she had access to an incredibly loud siren, he doubted this was her doing.

All his sekirei were gathering around a window, Benitsubasa had even opened it so she could stick her head out for a better view. Madoka took a few long strides and made his way over to them. He could just see the tip of the MBI tower in the distance, and it was lit up with spotlights illuminating the darkened night sky. The sekirei crest symbol was projected above the top of the tower.

"Well... damn," Madoka muttered. This couldn't be anything good. Finally the sirens stopped. Moments later he heard his TV snap on. It was something that was growing old fast. He was not surprised to see that it was Minaka again.

"Greetings ashikabi!" Minaka spoke, but it was not directed at him specifically. "It's the beginning of the third stage of the Sekirei Plan! I will keep this simple, the third stage will be broken up into matches, and the first match begins now!"

"Match? They're forcing us into fights!" Sukaime exclaimed.

"Perfect!" Benitsubasa rammed her fist into her palm, immediately fired up.

"The first match will be between three teams, and each ashikabi may choose three sekirei at maximum to bring with him! The rules may change with following matches, as will the location! The sekirei will fight and fight, they must fight! And the ashikabi must come with them! And what is at stake but the treasure of the gods! The key to the heavens!"

"Treasure of the gods?" Kaie brought a hand to her chin thoughtfully. "What is he planning?" She looked worried. "I don't like this."

"Calm down, it's only three people participating, what are the chances we'll be picked?" Sukaime stuck her tongue out. At that moment exactly, Madoka's phone rang. "OW!" Sukaime clasped her hands over her mouth, having bit her tongue in surprise.

"Dammit," Madoka grumbled and answered it.

"_Congratulations! You've been chosen to participate in the very first match of the third stage! It's quite an honor indeed!"_

"Yeah. Fantastic," Madoka sighed into the receiver.

"_Isn't it? We look forward to seeing how you fare!"_ And with that the call ended.

"Guess what." Madoka looked to his sekirei.

"We won a prize we didn't even want?" Sukaime guessed.

"Yeah, pretty much." Madoka nodded, his nod quickly turning to a dismayed shake.

"Well, that just leaves one question. Who stays behind?" Kaie asked. Madoka paused. He hadn't thought of that. She was right though, he could only take three. He had four. Someone had to stay home alone.

"Obviously I'm going!" Benitsubasa declared adamantly.

"Right." Madoka didn't argue. She was their only hand-to-hand fighter. He needed her there. "Err, Kaie too." Kaie was strong, he wasn't going to take any risks by not taking her. Her practice fight had only cemented in his mind that her prowess in combat was an amazing asset to have.

"So... what about us?" Oriha spoke up before turning to look at Sukaime. This was a harder choice. It wasn't obvious who he should take. They both fought at range with weapons, and he couldn't really say that one was immensely stronger than the other. If that was true though, how much would it matter who he chose?

"Well." Madoka gulped, glancing back and forth between the two. "O-Oriha. Oriha goes with us." he trusted Oriha. He trusted Sukaime too, but he was more used to how Oriha fought. Her norito was a known quantity and life saver. He supposed he'd seen Sukaime's as well though, but he hadn't even been aware he was using it at the time. Oriha might have fought similarly to Sukaime, but Oriha used more than one levitating weapon. He wasn't sure how quantity compared to quality, but he'd made his choice and he'd have to hope for the best.

"I won't let you down, I promise, Madoka-sama! We'll win!" Oriha nodded vigorously.

"Sorry Sukaime, I had to choose." Madoka couldn't look at her. It was just for this one fight, but it was like he'd just been forced to pick between his sekirei. He had been, actually, and such a choice was something that had been weighing on his mind as of late. It wasn't the same kind of choice, but it was a cruel reminder all the same.

"It's fine, don't worry," Sukaime assured him. Madoka grimaced, but nodded. "Dammit, I'm serious! Don't worry about it!" Sukaime marched over to him and grabbed his shirt, pulling his face closer to hers. She then grabbed his cheeks with one hand and forced eye-contact. "Don't you get it? You're about to face two other teams! This is a fight you can't avoid! You can't be thinking about me, you have to focus on the match! If you're distracted because you feel guilty, how well do you think this is really going to go? Get your head on straight dammit! The hell is wrong with you?"

He stared back wide-eyed. It was like being chewed out by a drill sergeant. He'd needed it though. His head had been a mess all day. The sharp intensity of Sukaime's aquamarine eyes boring into his own helped to finally snap his mind out of its chaotic state. He nodded and she let go of his face.

"Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Sukaime." He smiled at her.

"There! All better!" She patted him on the cheek and released his shirt.

"Great, let's get going!" Benitsubasa scowled, grabbing Madoka's shirt-sleeve. She looked a little jealous, but at least she wasn't glaring at Sukaime. He stumbled a little at her sudden pull, but followed after her... only to bump into her back when she stopped. "Wait, where the hell are we even going?"

"-not in the city!" They heard the T.V. once more.

"Shush, he's still talking!" Sukaime waved for their silence and they all huddled around the television once more.

"It is an abandoned island owned by MBI!" Minaka continued.

"How the hell do we get to an abandoned island?" Benitsuabasa shouted. "Stupid old bastard!"

"And now I'll talk about the past. When the gods landed here, they brought with them these treasures. I have hidden one of them in the arena, and the ashikabi must obtain it! The sekirei will fight until it is in an ashikabi's hands!" The man chuckled. "I hope you'll all enjoy yourselves. The match begins now!"

"How can it begin when we're not even th- What's that?" Benitsuabasa angry ranting ended when they heard a noise approaching. "No..." They all realized what it was as it became loud enough that there was no mistaking it for something else.

"They sent us a _helicopter_?" Oriha's jaw dropped.

"Dammit! I wanna ride on the helicopter too!" Sukaime stomped her foot and pouted.

"S-sorry." Madoka shrugged helplessly. He couldn't say he felt the same way. A helicopter coming to his house to whisk him away to an abandoned island owned by a psychotic corporation that was holding a series of battles between strange beings called sekirei... well he just wasn't all that comfortable with it. Though, he didn't really have a choice in the matter, now did he?

"Whatever, don't worry. Go! Remember what I told you!" Sukaime urged him towards the door. Madoka nodded and headed out, the three sekirei he'd chosen to go with him close behind. He stopped at the door and looked back at Sukaime.

"You don't worry either, we'll be back soon," he told her. At least, he hoped so.

**. . .**

"Bring me back something shiny!" Sukaime grinned. She watched from the doorway as the helicopter they'd heard descended down into the street. Any response from Madoka was muffled by the overwhelming noise of the helicopter blades chopping the air and the whine of the engine. The four of them boarded, and the helicopter rose back into the air, carrying them away.

Sukaime shut the door once they were out of sight. She immediately slumped against it. They were gone to who knew where and she was left there, alone. She slammed her fist against the floor. Madoka had been taken from her, taken somewhere she couldn't follow him to. Why hadn't he picked her? Why couldn't she be there to protect him? Why couldn't she make sure everything turned out OK?

Was she not good enough? Of course she wasn't, what reason did he have to think she was the better choice? She'd nearly been blown up by the lightning twins and she'd been beaten by Haihane. Oriha was always the one saving them, not her. She was the obnoxious idiot who ran her mouth and never accomplished anything. He was right to leave her.

"I'm sorry, Madoka-kun..." She muttered. Something had to change. She had to change. How could she change? _Could _she change?

Such thoughts tore at her mind until once again she heard something from the television. She slowly dragged herself to her feet and shuffled over to it.

"M-Madoka?" Upon seeing what was on the screen she flew over to it, kneeling down only inches away. It was showing her the island! She couldn't be there, but she could watch. She'd at least know what was happening. "Come on, Madoka-kun! Win!"

**. . .**

The helicopter had indeed dropped them off on an island. It seemed to be an old industrial site of some sort. Large pipes and platforms extended across the entire area. It wasn't going to be a flat arena it seemed. They'd have to make sure to look up.

"This is great and all, but where is everyone else? How are we supposed to find that stupid treasure in a place like this?" Benitsubasa crossed her arms.

"Well, we could follow the arrows," Kaie said and pointed.

"What are you-" Benitsubasa followed her hand and then stood there slack-jawed. There were literally signs, in the shape of large arrows, placed across the facility. "You have got to be kidding me."

"We'll have to hurry. He said it was hidden, but those arrows are going to make it easy to find. We're not going to be the only ones following them," Kaie told them.

"Good point," Madoka agreed, looking nervous. He'd looked nervous the whole way there actually. "Well, I guess we should get going." He grimaced. Before they could take one step though, they were halted.

"You're here too?" A tiny voice called out. Benitsubasa froze. She recognized that voice. It couldn't be... "It is you! Beni-ko!"

"Oh shi-" Benitsubasa looked up in time to see a small figure clad in white dropping out of the sky like a bomb. "No!" But it was too late. The next thing she knew she was lying on her back, crushed beneath a small girl.

"Beni-ko! I missed you!" The girl's white, loosely fitting outfit was cut so that it revealed a fair portion of her midriff, but had long sleeves that covered her hands. She had short, messy, white hair to go with it.

"Dammit Shijime, get off! That hurt!" Benitsubasa shouted angrily. This was not what she wanted to deal with right now. She pried the girl off and sat up. She saw Oriha and Kaie standing at the ready, but hesitating out of confusion. Madoka looked just as befuddled.

"You... know each other?" Madoka asked.

"It's a long story." Benitsubasa sighed.

"Beni-ko, did you miss me too?" Shijime asked.

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Benitsubasa grumbled.

"Yaaay!" Shijime flung herself at her again. Sometimes Benitsubasa hated her life, and this was one of those times. This was humiliating. At least Sukaime couldn't see this.

**. . .**

"Wait, how do you know Benitsubasa?" Madoka walked over, grabbing Shijime's shoulder in an attempt to get her attention. He wasn't going to get an answer just yet though.

"Sanada! Over here, they have Shijime!" Yet another unknown voice was heard. Madoka looked in the direction of the voice to see a darker skinned girl with blonde hair wearing tight shorts and a bikini top that wasn't quite big enough for her.

"Crap, the rest of her group showed up!" Benitsubasa growled.

"Kujika! Hi!" Shijimi called out happily. "I found Beni-ko!"

"Who?" Kujika asked, confused. There would be no end to the interruptions, however.

"BASTARD! Get your hand off of my lovely!" An angry, male voice roared. Madoka looked up to see a man wielding a small pipe jump off of a platform up above. He looked like he was aiming to crack Madoka's skull with said pipe.

"WAIT!" Madoka's eyes went wide. He didn't want to get into a brawl with an ashikabi again. The next thing he knew though, Kaie's whips wrapped around one of the man's ankles and yanked him right out of the air, slamming him to the ground at Kaei's feet.

"Don't touch him," Kaie stated and aimed a piercing, icy glare at the man, not looking impressed by him.

"Ow!" The man, Madoka assumed he must be Sanada, groaned and pushed himself into a sitting position. A moment later Shijime flung herself at him, nearly knocking him over again.

"Sanada! Look, look! I found Beni-ko!" Shijime chirped happily.

"Wha-? Who?" Sanada grumbled.

"I'm Beni-ko!" Benitsubasa snapped impatiently. "Err, I mean Benitsubasa, I mean... DAMMIT SHIJIME! Explain!" If Madoka hadn't been trying to stop himself from having a heart attack over his near death experience just then, he'd probably have found that hilarious.

"So, you know this one?" Sanada glanced between Benitsubasa and Shijime.

"She's my friend from MBI!" Shijime nodded vigorously.

"And?" Benitsubasa urged.

"My _best _friend from MBI!" Shijime amended. Benitsubasa dropped her face into her palm. "Best_est?_"

"Shijime... you... Ugh, fine, _I'll _explain!" Benitsubasa groaned loudly. "When I was going through my tuning, every so often I'd have to go to the MBI building for an... inspection I guess you could call it. They wanted to see how I was progressing or something. It wasn't just me though, it was all the sekirei from my 'batch.' I think there were four of us. That's where I met Shijime. I'm one-oh-five, and she's one-oh-six, so we ran into each other a few times."

"Seems like you did more than 'run into each other,'" Madoka commented. Shijime had even called Benitsubasa her best friend, or at least her best friend from MBI.

"She really, really liked it when I gave her attention." Benitsubasa crossed her arms. "And by attention, I mean not completely ignoring her when she talked to me."

"Benitsubasa is older than me, so she got her check-ups first! I was scared, but she made me feel better!" Shijime smiled. Madoka nearly threw up his entire stomach in surprise. That seemed way too nice. He caught Benitsubasa's face turning bright red.

"A-all I said is that it was nothing! They didn't even use needles! The adjustments from my tuner were way worse!" Benitsubasa yelled almost desperately. Madoka had a feeling there was more to the story, but there was no way Benitsubasa would tell him in front of so many people.

"Well, friend or not, we're supposed to be competing here," Sanada said, draping his arm over his knee casually.

"Umm, Sanada..." Kujika walked over to him. "W-we never found Kuzuri," she said nervously. Sanada sat there for a moment, and then his eyes slowly went wide.

"Right then," Sanda said, looking at Madoka's full team of three sekirei. "Look, you don't seem to want to fight, am I right?"

"Not particularly," Madoka replied honestly.

"Well, since our sekirei here seem to be friends, I'll cut you a break. We still have a goal to reach here, so I'm not going to work with you or anything, but how about we agree to not get in each others' way. Whoever gets to the end first wins, end of story."

"Works for me." Madoka nodded. He wasn't about to argue with someone who didn't want to fight, though he had to question his true reasons for avoiding the fight. What was more, Benitsubasa wasn't arguing either.

"All right my lovelies, let's go find Kuzuri!" Sanada shot to his feet and jogged off, Kujika following close behind.

"Bye-bye Beni-ko! Good luck!" Shijime called out as she too ran after her ashikabi. Benitsubasa just grimaced and gave Shijimi the most halfhearted wave he'd ever seen.

"Weirdo." Oriha mumbled.

"Well, he's going to be busy looking for his other sekirei, so we need to take advantage of that for as long as we can," Madoka said. "Oriha, Kaie, I want you two to follow the arrows. Benitsubasa will go with me and we'll try to find a route that's easier for someone like me. You know, human."

"Good idea." Kaie smiled approvingly. "With any luck, we can just bring whatever this 'treasure' is to you and you don't actually have to get to it yourself."

"Yeah, maybe. Be careful though, there's still one more person in this match we have to watch out for," Madoka reminded them.

"Hehe, don't worry Madoka-sama! We can handle this. Now let's hurry, the sooner we find this thing the sooner we'll be done!" Oriha chimed in. Kaie nodded in agreement and the two shot up, making humanly impossible jumps from pipe to pipe to platform as they followed the arrows off into the distance.

"So, ready?" Madoka asked Benitsubasa.

"Definitely." Benitsubasa cracked her knuckles. "The next sekirei I see I'm pummeling into the ground."

"Well, in that case, let's hope we don't run into any more friends." Madoka laughed nervously. With that, they headed deeper into the complex, doing their best to follow the arrows. They traveled via ramps and the occasional ladder, any path that was easily navigated by a regular human being. He certainly wasn't going to be running along the pipes like his sekirei.

Eventually they reached a wider area that had more open space between the pipelines and was a little higher in elevation.

"Oh hell..." Madoka's heart sank. They weren't alone.

"Ah, look! Another ashikabi! Good, then we can start playing!" Playing? What was this guy talking about? Then the voice began to sound familiar, frighteningly so. It was-

"Mikogami-sama, he's only got one sekirei!" A female voice, one of the other ashikabi's sekirei, spoke.

"You're right," Mikogami said. "But... wait, you there! You look familiar! Who are you?"

"Of course we look familiar you idiot! Are you that stupid you can't remember something that happened a month ago?" Benitsubasa yelled. Madoka could already see veins popping in her forehead. Mikogami had been the ashikabi of the ice sekirei that Benitsubasa fought.

"Oh! It's you! You're the one Akitsu beat!" Mikogami exclaimed excitedly upon realization.

"That's rig- HEY! Remember me by my name you little shit!" Benitsubasa looked positively murderous at this point.

"Well, I don't know what happened to your other sekirei, but I'll have to assume they're here somewhere. For now though, since you have only one with you, there's no reason we can't play this game by the rules and have a a normal one against one battle!" Mikogami said.

"Fine! Bring it on, where's that ice bitch?" Benitsubasa growled.

"Oh, she's not here. I thought I'd make it exciting and bring different sekirei. This way it should actually be challenging and fun to watch! I didn't want it to be too easy!" Mikogami explained, a sparkle in his eye. He looked way too happy to be there.

"What the hell is your problem? Fine, you want to throw away your sekirei, go ahead!" Benitsubasa cracked her knuckles. "Who wants to die?"

"Allow me Mikogami-sama. I'm Himeko, number fifteen." One girl stepped forward. She had medium length brown hair and wore a long, flowing kimono and fingerless black gloves. She suddenly produced two parts of a massive bladed weapon from the folds of her kimono, deftly snapped it together, and held it at the ready, "Poor thing, you're so angry. Did Akitsu humiliate you? Don't worry, I'll take care of everything." Himeko laughed condescendingly. Her weapon had large handle in the middle and a large curved blade all along the front of it, ending in a jagged tail to the rear of the handle, with a large cleaving end at the front.

"Benitsubasa, one-oh-five... I'm going to fucking kill you." Benitsubasa's eye twitched. She was ready to snap, Madoka could tell.

"Don't lose control," Madoka warned her. He didn't want to count on Oriha and Kaie returning in time to save her if things went poorly.

"I know what I'm doing!" Benitsubasa barked.

"Good, then you two keep looking for the prize! I'm sure his other sekirei are doing the same. We can't afford to lose the first match of this game!" Mikogami ordered his other sekirei who nodded and took off. Madoka spirits fell a little. Oriha and Kaie definitely weren't going to have time to help them now.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa felt her face growing hot. She could hear her blood rushing through her veins, pounding in her head. All she could think about was how close she'd come to termination against Akitsu. She could feel the chill of the ice that had stabbed into her, she could remember the feeling of weakness she felt lying on the ground in defeat.

But it wasn't Akitsu she was facing now. Looking at Himeko, she felt no sense of fear. She just felt a desire to attack. She needed this. She needed to crush someone.

"What's wrong? You look nervous. Are you trembling?" Himeko asked.

"Yeah, I am. Just take a look. This is how badly I want to hurt you," Benitsubasa hissed, looking Himeko in the eye. She saw the other girl flinch. That was all it took to set her off. She saw weakness.

Benitsubasa rushed forward. Himeko snapped out of her surprise at the last moment, swinging her large blade at Benitsubasa, but she slipped to the side to evade it. She hopped back to avoid the back-swing, and then again when Himeko pushed forward with a stab.

Himeko looked frustrated as her every attack missed, raising the blade high into the air and swinging it down. Benitsubasa easily dodged it again and the jagged tail end of the weapon only pierced into the concrete they stood upon. Benitsubasa kicked out, striking the weapon, causing it to tear out of the ground. Himeko kept her grasp on it though, spinning around and building momentum for a much more powerful swing.

Benitsubasa didn't care, the wind-up took just long enough for her to plan her next move. As Himeko brought the weapon around, she jumped, landing on the large, flat side of the weapon and then jumping again. She landed on Himeko's shoulders and looked down to see pure shock on the girl's face. Benitsubasa reached down, grabbing Himeko's cheeks firmly in her hands and forced her to look her in the eye.

"Hey there." Benitsubasa grinned sadistically. She was enjoying this. The feeling of total domination made her feel alive. She was practically shivering with pleasure. She kept Himeko's face trapped in her hands and then brought her leg back as far as she could. Then, with all her might, she rammed her knee forward into Himeko's face. As she did, she felt a warm sensation dripping down her legs as Himeko's nose shattered under the impact.

Benitsubasa fell into a back flip as Himeko tumbled away from her, landing in a crouched position as Himeko's body crashed to a halt. It wasn't over just yet though, Himeko was still moving. The other girl dragged herself to her feet, weapon held limply in one hand, her other hand covering her nose as it gushed blood.

Benitsubasa pushed off as hard as she could, careening forward and spearing her elbow into Himeko's gut. She felt blood splatter onto her face as all the air in Himeko's body was forced out, carrying the red liquid with it. Himeko flew back, bouncing once before painfully sliding to a stop at least ten body lengths away. But by some miracle, or cruel cosmic joke, Himeko wasn't done just yet.

Benitsubasa smirked, sticking her tongue out before stalking over to the girl who was weakly trying to push herself up. Just as the girl got to her hands and knees, Benitsubasa reached her.

"You were right, you did take care of everything. I feel a lot better now." Benitsubasa cocked her fist back and then dropped it onto the back of Himeko's neck. The girl dropped like a stone, totally limp, a frail gagging noise coming from her before she went still.

"What? No!" Mikogami complained. "That wasn't fun at all! What did you do that for?"

"What's wrong? It's just a game right? I played by the rules, didn't I?" Benitsubasa sneered at him. "You'll have another chance to play. Just remember, while you keep playing to have fun, I'll be playing to win!"

"Of course I'm playing to win! Winning is fun!" Mikogami shouted. Benitsubasa just laughed and a smile came across her face.

"You're right. I'm having all kinds of fun right now."

**. . .**

"So, is it just me or is this too easy?" Oriha asked Kaie as they followed the giant, black arrows that had been set up across the facility.

"No, it makes sense. Think about what he said," Kaie replied. "He wants us to fight. He wants to draw us together and make us fight over the goal. It's not just a race to the finish," she explained calmly.

"Oh," Oriha mumbled. That made a disturbing amount of sense. However, they soon saw a tall, tower-like construct with circular platforms set near the top. There was also a huge, red arrow painted on it, pointing at one of the platforms. Oriha assumed that was their goal. The fact that accompanying the arrow was the word "HERE" also helped tremendously. "I know you just explained it, but this still feels silly."

"Just be glad we got here first." Kaie sighed as they jumped to the platform. There was a small container with the sekirei crest emblazoned on the side. As they approached, it opened on its own, a bright light shining out of it.

"Ha! We win! All we have to do is- WAH!" Oriha cried out, her arms suddenly forced to her side and her legs bound together. She fell to her side, feeling like a dozen razors were cutting into her skin. Any move she made, the slightest struggle, made the pain worse.

**. . .**

"Oriha?" Kaie gasped. What was happening? She hadn't seen anything! Oriha had just collapsed, looking like something was binding her, but there had been nothing! Then a faint glint caught her eye and it came clear. The arrows had led their enemies to the goal as well. She could make them out now. Tiny, barely visible wires wrapped all around Oriha. She could trace them back, down to a lower level of the facility to a girl in a yellow and black dress. She also had blond hair tied into twin-tails.

"Gotcha! Hands off, that prize belongs to Mikogami-sama!" the twin-tailed sekirei called out.

"Miko...gami?" Oriha grunted. "N-no way!" Her struggles to escape began anew, but the enemy sekirei pulled the wires tighter, cutting into Oriha's skin and causing her to cry out in pain. Kaie grit her teeth at the sounds of Oriha's pain, but she had to focus. She needed to free Oriha before she could risk doing anything else, but how?

"Go ahead! Struggle all you want, you'll just slice yourself up even faster! MBI made these wires, they're unbreakable!"

Kaie stepped up onto the railing, ready to take aim at the sekirei who'd bound Oriha, but then she caught sight of a second enemy. The second enemy sekirei had long, white hair and a strange white dress with long sleeves that was long in the back, but open in the front, showing a large portion of her breasts and stomach, leading to a short skirt that didn't even make it halfway down her thighs.

"Number sixty-five, Taki. Goodbye," the newcomer said, and with a wave of her arms mist rolled over the area, obscuring her targets completely

"W-waaaah! Nnnnngh!" Kaie heard Oriha scream in pain. She looked down to see Oriha's dress turning from white to red in some spots, blood seeping into the fabric. She was out of time. She didn't lose her cool though, she just took a deep breath. They couldn't hide from her with such a simple trick.

She vaulted over the platform's railings and whips held tightly in her hands, crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Wind Slashing Whip!" Her whips sliced through the air and rent two large, jagged swaths through the mist. Suddenly her opponents were quite visible again, staring back at her with shocked expressions. "Number sixty-two, Kaie. Hello." Taki looked frustrated at that, but as far as Kaie was concerned, she'd earned that one.

"Dammit Taki! What the hell?" The sekirei who'd trapped Oriha shouted.

"Not my fault, Mitsuki!" Taki replied. She looked like she was ready to repair the holes in the mist, but Kaie couldn't afford to let that happen. Her whips cracked inches from the mist sekirei's head, causing her to flinch. She then quickly turned to the twin-tailed sekirei.

"You have two options. Release my friend and run, or don't and stand there helplessly while I terminate you," Kaie threatened coldly.

"Ha? Friend? How about you don't move or I'll slice your 'friend' into pieces like cheese wire through cheese! Imagine it for a second!" The wire sekirei, Mitsuki, threatened back. Kaie did imagine it unfortunately. The mental image was unpleasant.

"Sorry, friend is just what my ashikabi has trained me to call her. It makes him happy to think we actually all get along. In reality, you'd be doing me a favor by getting rid of the bitch. Less competition." Kaie had to admit some of that was inspired by Benitsubasa.

"E-eh?" It seemed that answer was unexpected.

"Go ahead, I can wait. Just pretend like I tried to stop you if you see my ashikabi." Kaie crossed her arms patiently. Mitsuki glanced back and forth between Oriha and Kaie in utter befuddlement. It was all the time Kaie needed. Her whips lashed out and wrapped around the wire sekire's wrists. She yanked her forward, easing the tension in the wires trapping Oriha. With another yank, she pulled the girl even closer, dragging her across the ground.

"Can you get out yet?" Kaie yelled.

"I'm working on it! It's all tangled up!" Oriha shouted back down. Kaie frowned. Now the positions had been reversed. She was tied up with her opponent while Taki had all hands free. And indeed the mist was starting to get thick again. She still had one set of whips free, but her maneuverability left something to be desired.

"Now maybe you should release _my_ 'friend.'" Taki's mocking voice echoed around Kaie. Great, somehow Taki was even keeping sound from being helpful.

"Let me go you fucking bitch! Untie me so I can kick your ffff-"

"Shut up," Kaie muttered, stepping on the Mitsuki's face, leaving her to growl angrily and spew muffled, unintelligible gibberish.

"It's over." Kaie felt a finger on her spine. Literally. More specifically, it was her sekirei crest.

"N-no," Kaie gasped. How could she have been so careless? She'd let Taki get behind her. She should have known, it was the obvious place for her to go, but she'd gotten distracted by Mitsuki's complaints. Stupid. _"Madoka-kun... I'm sorry..."_ But maybe she could still get free. But then what if she failed? If she let go of Mitsuki, she had a small chance, but then if she failed Oriha would remain trapped and they'd both perish. Could she risk making Madoka lose two sekirei? _"But if I could just... If I could just... maybe..."_ Then she heard Taki begin her chant, and her heart sank. _"Goodbye."_

"Mist of my-"

"FINALLY! Stupid fucking wires!" Kaie didn't even wait for Oriha to finish her sentence. She immediately forgot her dismayed thoughts. She loosened her grip on the whips holding Mitsuki and bent over, pulling her crest away from Taki's finger. She reached between her own legs and grabbed hold of Taki's ankle, pulling hard on it and yanking the other sekirei right off her feet.

Kaie spun around, kicking Mitsuki in the face on her way around to keep her down, turning to face the now also downed Taki. Kaie raised her arms up high, swinging her whips high up into the air above her. With a roar, she swung down hard, all six whips whistling menacingly through the air. She raked all six hard across her fallen opponent, tearing at clothing, flesh, and even the cement beneath her.

When all was still, it looked like a giant, clawed hand had come down and smote Taki, the gouges in the ground around her looking like they were left by the talons of an angry monster. Kaie stood there panting. It had been close, too close. She could have been the one lying on the ground now. Why had she let herself be paralyzed like that? She'd thought it was too risky to fight back, but not fighting back had been the bigger risk. What if Oriha had taken just a second longer? Something had gone wrong inside her mind, and she needed to know what. What if she made another, bigger mistake in the future?

"I'm going to kill you!" It seemed Mitsuki was getting up. Kaie would have to save her worries for later.

"No you're not. You're going to be smart and run away. At least, that's my suggestion. You're outnumbered and outmatched." Kaie turned and looked Mitsuki in the eye. She saw the sweat dripping down the side of Mitsuki's face. The girl was angry, but deep inside she knew Kaie could beat her. She had no leverage anymore. Kaie could see the knowledge in Mitsuki's eyes.

"Dammit!" Mitsuki shouted and turned on her heel, running. Kaie decided she would indeed let her. She'd had her fill of bloodshed for the day. If Oriha felt like chasing her, that would be her choice.

She heard a flutter and a tap on the ground next to her as Oriha gracefully dropped down from the above platform. Her grace was of course tempered by her bloody, torn dress.

"Why'd you let her escape? She needs to fucking die!" Oriha snarled. It was times like these that Kaie could tell Oriha's temper was nearly as bad as Benitsubasa's. She just usually hid it better. That was to say she actually bothered to try and hide it.

"Sorry. I already terminated one sekirei." Kaie glanced at Taki. She certainly wasn't moving. Kaie knew that if she were to look, Taki's crest would be gone. "I didn't' feel like terminating another. Besides, you'll have your chance, that or someone else will do it. She's not someone who's going to survive this... game," Kaie said somberly.

"You're weird," Oriha muttered.

"That's... one word for it I guess." Kaie knew she was definitely in a weird place mentally at the moment. She was a little too aware of her mortality.

"But I guess you're right." Oriha sighed, frowning, but composing herself. She held out her hand, revealing a small, glimmering crystal with the number "1" on it. "Anyway, we have this thing. We should get it to Madoka-sama!"

"Right. That Sanada person is still here. He said he'd stay out of our way, but if he caught us with the prize in hand... I just don't trust him." Kaie narrowed her eyes.

"Well then let's go! Err, I think that way!"

**. . .**

"Do you think we'll win?" Benitsubasa asked.

"Huh?" Madoka glanced at her. He hadn't been paying attention, trapped in his own thoughts.

"Are you OK?" Benitsubasa asked.

"Yeah, well, kinda. It's just... why do you enjoy this so much?" Madoka asked. She'd been borderline sadistic when fighting Himeko.

"Hmph. Well imagine there were only one-hundred and... err... seven. Yeah, one-hundred and seven people like you, and it was your job to kill them all. If you don't enjoy it you go insane." Benitsubasa immediately frowned. "And if you think about it too much you can't enjoy it..." she grumbled.

"Would it bother you if you were the only one left? If there were no other sekirei?" Madoka rose an eyebrow. He honestly hadn't thought of it that way.

"No," Benitsubasa answered quickly. "It's supposed to be this way, right? If I win it means I'm the best and no one else was meant to be here anyway. Besides, I'd have you. Why do I need anyone else? I don't like them anyway."

"Right..." Madoka honestly didn't know what else to say. All he knew is he didn't want to talk about it anymore. Not right now at least, he had this stupid match to fret about as it was.

"So, do you think we'll win?" Benitsubasa repeated her earlier question.

"Well, you won your fight and if Sanada keeps his word Oriha and Kaie won't have more than two opponents, and Mikogami admitted that he purposely brought weaker sekirei," Madoka detailed all the evidence. "So... maybe?" He had to admit it seemed like they had a pretty good chance.

"Those two better not screw this up." Benitsubasa folded her hands behind her head as she walked.

"Wait wait! Stop! Down there! Madoka-sama!" As if on cue, they heard Oriha shouting. They turned to see her standing on a pipe above them. "Look!" Oriha began waving around something shiny.

"Huh, she has the whatsit."

"Catch!" Wait, what? Oriha suddenly cocked her arm back and slung the shining object towards him.

"Shit..." Madoka gulped. He hadn't played catch in a long time. He wasn't so confident in his abilities to catch a small, flying object. He saw Oriha wince, and he realized she'd thrown it too hard and it was going to sail over their heads. However, being tall had it's benefits, as with one, well timed jump he was able to just barely snatch it out of the air.

"Not bad," Benitsubasa smirked at him.

"Well, my father wanted me to play baseball." Madoka shrugged. "Maybe I should have stuck with it."

"Wait, doesn't this mean we just won?" Benitsubasa pointed out.

"Umm, I think so?" Madoka blinked, suddenly realizing the implications of his catch.

"_IT'S OVER!" _A loud voice came over out of sight loudspeakers. _"THE FIRST MATCH IS OVER! OUR WINNER IS KEISUI MADOKA!"_

"Heh, congratulations," Benitsubasa crossed her arms.

"Nah, you three did all the work. Good job!" Madoka smiled. Despite the kind of match they'd just won, despite what they'd done to win it, he was glad they won. They were all still there. They'd earned the praise, and he'd grin and bear the price others had been forced to pay in blood for their sake. "Let's go home."

**. . .**

"My heroes have returned!" Sukaime cheered as they walked through the door. "You guys were awesome! Benitsubasa's out of her slump and Kaie saved our precious doll Oriha!"

"I'm not a doll!" Oriha, of course.

"Wait, how do you kn-" Benitsubasa froze. What else had Sukaime seen?

"By the way, I saw you hugging strange girls other than me! What's up with that?" Sukaime frowned.

"Dammit Shijime..." Benitsubasa groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose and clenching her eyes shut, bracing against the inevitable ragging on from Sukaime.

"Who's this Shijime? Harlot!"

**. . .**

"_The next round will now commence! Hmm... the last round was rather fun! I say we turn things up a notch, but the rules will be the same!"_

"Avaron-sama! Your phone is ringing!"

* * *

><p><strong>Damn! That was... well you just read what that was! Dayum! And Benitsubasa's back in the saddle! Yaaaay!<strong>

**The general consensus of that last major chapter from you guys is that the character development was nice, well it's not over! God damn, it is _NOT_ over. Keep reading, because the crazy isn't over yet!**

**Also I'm glad most of you seem to like the experimental sekirei idea. At least, no one told me they didn't like it. In fact I've been told it's quite acceptable. Hehe... the guy who said that is probably getting annoyed with me by now, but I still find that funny.**

**The Oriha special was also received well enough for me to be happy.**

**Til' next time!**


	26. I Hate Secrets

**So... many reviews... the weight... it crushes me... with happiness. **

**Sorry this was so late. Life happened.  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>I Hate Secrets<strong>

"So it's all televised?" Madoka asked.

"Yep!" Sukaime answered.

"Ugh." Benitsubasa was still groaning.

"Oh, stop your whining! I want to watch the next match before I go to bed, so you're safe for now!" Sukaime said in a scolding tone.

"Whatever! I don't care!" Benitsubasa stuck her nose in the air. It was an obvious lie considering she'd just been acting very much like she cared.

"But you're in for it in the morning, you hussy!" Sukaime frowned, looking offended.

"Oh my god! Why me?" Benitsubasa clutched her head and bashed it against the floor.

"Hey! Cut it out!" Madoka spoke up. "You're going to damage the hardwood!"

"Not as hard as her head, right?" Oriha giggled.

"Exactly." Madoka folded his arms.

"No! Not you! You don't get to join in! Not fair!" Benitsubasa glared at Madoka.

"Hey look! The contestants are on the TV!" Sukaime's alerting them stopped the arguing immediately.

"Wait, isn't that Avaron?" Kaie pointed to a slender, black-haired figure on the television.

"Wah? Holy crap!" Sukaime exclaimed. "It is!" Then all their jaws dropped.

"Kouji?" Madoka's eyes bulged.

"Well, looks like we're about to be at least one friend short," Benitsubasa commented without a care in the world.

"Hey! It's the same rules as last time! A race to the finish, not a fight to the death!" Madoka reminded her. "They can work together."

"I think this is weird. Don't you think MBI probably knows about our little alliance? They have to be keeping tabs on us, right?" Sukaime frowned.

"Maybe they're more focused on our alliance with Minato. That's far more noteworthy, right?" Kaie suggested. "Maybe they've overlooked our alliance with Avaron and Kouji."

"Or maybe they're testing it." Benitsubasa shrugged. "If they are keeping tabs, then they know Madoka is the leader. Pit the minions against each other and see how loyal they are to each other. We're too strong to go against, but what's stopping them from killing each other? If they do fight, it messes with the whole alliance." For a moment, all eyes were on her. "What?"

"When did you get smart?" Oriha scowled.

"I think she's just being hopeful." Sukaime rolled her eyes. "She's evil, it's totally something that she'd think up. Fortunately I'm a masochist." She winked.

"Stop being gross," Benitsubasa hissed.

"Enough!" Madoka spoke up. "It's starting."

**. . .**

-11 Hours Earlier-

Avaron couldn't even begin to think of words that described her mood. She felt sick though, actually physically ill. She didn't understand what was going through her own mind. She had to admit, she wasn't sure she'd been able to understand herself for a long time now. She paused as she reached the door to her home. What was going to happen when she walked in? What would she do to Masukagami? What emotions would flare up without warning?

Madoka had rejected her. That left her with Masukagami. She had no one else anymore. She felt alone again. How could she live when she only had one person? It wasn't even someone she felt comfortable loving.

She bit her lip until it hurt and then a little more. Finally she took a deep breath and opened the door, trying to shake off the feeling of dizziness that had been plaguing her the entire walk home.

"Avaron-sama! Did you enjoy your walk?" Masukagami had clearly been waiting intently for her to return. She was like a tick. Avaron already felt a burning sensation welling up in her chest, she felt her hands tighten into white-knuckled fists. "Avaron-sama? What's wrong?" Masukagami walked over to her, not flinching in the slightest despite Avaron's past actions.

"Why are you like this? Can't you tell you're going to get hurt again?" Avaron's voice shook. There was no surprise visible on Masukagami though. A somber look came over her face and she merely tilted her head towards the floor.

"I already told you, I don't care. Please, just tell me what's wrong. I-I only want to help Avaron-sama!" Masukagami insisted.

"You're so stubborn! IDIOT!" Avaron raised her first, but she froze. Suddenly she couldn't do it. Nothing worked with Masukagami, nothing got through to her. If she kept doing this. kept making her cry... it was too familiar. Her knees went weak. She felt sick again, even sicker. She felt sweat drip down her face.

"A-Avaron-sama!" Masukagami had to catch her as she began to collapse. "Wh-what's wrong?"

"I'm no good. I'm no good! I'm ugly!" Avaron wailed, clutching her own head.

"What? No!" Masukagami clutched her tightly to her chest. "D-don't talk about yourself like that! I know that word means something different to you! Don't say it about yourself! My Avaron-sama isn't ugly!"

"He's in my head! He's ugly and he's making me ugly!" Avaron sobbed. The memories were back, but it wasn't just that. It wasn't the knife anymore, it was his face. It was replacing her own. She felt like she'd die if the memories didn't stop. She shut her eyes, but then his face was all she could see.

"Who? Who is he?" Masukagami asked.

"He made mother cry! B-but..." Avaron whimpered, shaking, curling up into a ball in Masukagami's lap. "I'd make mother cry too. I did make mother cry. I'm the same. I make you cry."

"No! Avaron-sama makes me happier than anything! I don't cry because of you! I cry over you! It's different!" Her words made her stop for a moment. She didn't understand. "M-Masukagami did cry a few times because she was being selfish, b-but most of the time I cry because I'm sad that Avaron-sama isn't happy! I don't know how to make Avaron-sama happy, so I cry. I can't stop myself! I hurt whenever Avaron-sama hurts! Right now it feels like I could die!"

Die? Avaron had just been thinking the same thing. Was it a coincidence? She opened her eyes. She let herself relax, going almost completely limp, laying against Masukagami.

"Promise me that I can trust you," Avaron said, her voice faint.

"O-of course! You don't even need to ask!"

"Then tell me. Am I ugly?" Avaron asked.

"No! Not in any way! Not even in your way!"

"What do you know about my way?" Avaron looked away.

"Avaron-sama is a good person! She's a kind person!" Masukagami insisted strongly. Avaron scoffed.

"How can you say that?"

"If you weren't, then you wouldn't care if you were ugly!" Avaron couldn't respond to that. She'd run out of words suddenly. Why did this girl have so much faith in her? Being a sekirei couldn't account for it all.

"You always say you love me, but I've never said it back. Why don't you give up? Are you that desperate?" Avaron asked, struggling to keep her voice from breaking.

"It's not that. Y-you have tried to hurt Masukagami, b-but... I can feel it, beneath the anger every time. You're always crying inside. You don't like it. I want to help that part of Avaron-sama!" Masukagami never failed to surprise her. Avaron felt so weak. Masukagami was breaking her. She loved the feeling. She felt a lightness inside her. She lifted her hand to Masukagami's cheek, caressing it gently.

"You win." Avaron smiled without having to will her face to do so. "I guess this means... I love you too."

**. . .**

-12 Hours Later-

"Holy crap! I had no idea Masukagami was that crazy in a fight!" Kouji said. "Namiji, did you even do anything?"

"Yes. You were too busy watching Masukagami though," Namiji muttered, not looking at him.

"S-sorry! But I was just trying to keep track of her! She was disappearing every two seconds!"

"I'll... admit it was impressive." Namiji nodded.

"Thank you!" Masukagami hopped over and hugged the other sekirei.

"W-words are enough, I assure you," Namiji replied nervously. "Err... th-that means you can let go now."

"Yes, Masukagami has never let me down. I don't think she knows how." Avaron giggled. "But you got the prize, didn't you?"

"Only because you helped clear the way. I can't believe that bastard made it a six way brawl! That's twice as many as Madoka had to deal with! Heh, that means our alliance has two of these things now! Awesome!" Kouji held up the shining crystal he'd won. "Now we just need to find one for you!"

"If it's necessary, yes." Avaron nodded.

"Hey, Namiji was cool too!" Masukagami grabbed the other girl and pushed her in front of Kouji. "You should give her a kiss!" The twos' eyes went wide and they glanced away.

"Uh, um, y-you don't have to right now. I-in front of them... y-you can do it later, uh, i-if you want," Namiji stuttered rapidly, face redder than her shirt.

"Uh, y-yeah," Kouji replied, face equally red.

"If you three are done, we're being watched," Avaron said, her voice losing it's air of happiness. The others followed her gaze and watched as a woman in a strange, pure-white outfit jumped down from a nearby rooftop. She wore a hood that kept them from getting a good look at her. The outfit was a cross-section of cloth over her chest, a skirt, long gloves, stockings, and then little else left to the imagination.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I'm going to have to ask you to give me that jinki," the strange woman, sekirei, said.

"Jinki? Wait, the crystal?" Kouji asked.

"Crystal, jinki, treasure of the gods, whatever you want to call it. Give it to me," she demanded. "I'll let you go unharmed as long as you cooperate."

"You didn't earn it! You're not getting anything!" Masukagami turned to face the white-clad sekirei. "Who are you?"

"That's none of your concern."

"What? We're sekirei! We're supposed to introduce ourselves!" Masukagami complained.

"That's none of _my_ concern. Besides, that's only the rules before a fight. Are you planning on starting one?"

"We're not giving you the jinki, so I guess so!" Masukagami unlatched her palm-mirror.

"If that's your decision," the white-clad sekirei lowered her stance.

"Be careful!" Avaron called out. Masukagami nodded and then ran straight at the other sekirei. The white-clad sekirei reared her arm back and in an instant white cloth wrapped around it and formed into a spear. Masukagami was surprised to see how her ability worked, but otherwise she wasn't phased. She ran right into the attack, letting it strike her palm-mirror. The spear of cloth bounced back, but the force was enough that Masukagami had to brace her wrist with her other hand.

This move was a mistake. In a flash, her opponent whipped up another length of cloth that wrapped around and bound her arms together. Masukagami's eyes shot wide as she realized she was now trapped, and the cloth spear was coming at her again, and this time she couldn't bring her mirror up to defend herself.

However, before the spear could hit home, the cloth tying her to her opponent was cut and the spear knocked aside. Namiji had arrived just in time to interfere.

"If you refuse to play by the rules, there is no reason for me to," Namiji said. "Free yourself, quickly," she told Masukagami.

"R-right!" Masukagami quickly began wiggling her wrists. The cloth was wrapped tightly, but with the tension gone, it began to loosen quickly. Meanwhile, she saw the cloth sekirei jump back, and then shoot a length of cloth that spiraled through the air, forming a point as it flew toward Namiji. However, Namiji only needed one mighty swing of her halberd to blast the attack away.

The cloth sekirei hesitated at this. Masukagami saw her chance as she finally freed her hands. She pulled out her large mirror and aimed it behind their enemy. With a quick spin, she flickered out of sight, and then appeared behind the white-clad sekirei. With one arm, she lofted the large mirror high, and swung it down at her opponent's head.

However, despite the suddenness of her sneak attack, the cloth sekirei was able to react. She pulled a length of cloth taught above her, catching the one-armed swing. However, Masukagami was ready as well. She flicked her palm-mirror back into her hand and slammed it against the cloth sekirei's side.

Her opponent cried out in pain, her skin splitting open, the attack from her own spear being used against her. Namiji tired to take advantage of this, rushing forward and trying to land a finishing blow, but the cloth sekirei twisted, a flurry of cloth suddenly twisting around her, pushing Masukagami away and causing Namiji to shield her eyes from the dust that was kicked up. When the two could safely look again, their opponent was gone.

"Up there!" Avaron alerted them to the rooftops. They saw the cloth sekirei standing there, staring back down at them, but instead of renewing her attack, she turned and fled.

"Coward!" Kouji shouted.

"Masukagami, why are you letting her go? Your mirror would make chasing her easy." Avaron walked over to her.

"From this angle... I could see her face," Masukagami replied. "She looked sad. I have this feeling. I don't want to fight her, something wasn't right. I don't know, but I feel like if I chase her now, I'll never understand why she attacked us. Besides, I'm not sure I can beat her. Fighting her was like balancing on a razor blade, the slightest stumble would have killed me. It almost did."

"I'll trust you." Avaron nodded, then smiled. "Now calm down, it's strange seeing you so serious."

"S-sorry." Masukagami blushed. "O-oh yeah! We should let Madoka know! He has a jinki too, he could be targeted!"

"Good idea, Kouji, call him," Avaron said to Kouji.

"Huh, oh, OK! On it!" Kouji pulled out his cellphone.

"You don't want to?" Masukagami tilted her head. She'd thought Avaron got along well with Madoka, why was she telling Kouji to make the call?

"Well, Kouji is the one with the jinki, he was the one really targeted. I just thought he should be the one to explain to Madoka," Avaron explained with a shrug.

"Avaron-sama, why-" Masukagami shook her head. "No, you're right, it makes sense!" She forced a smile. But why was Avaron lying to her?

**. . .**

"Yeah, I'll keep an eye out. Good luck. Uhuh... talk to you later," Madoka said and hung up his cell.

"So what did dearest little Kouji want?" Sukaime asked, rubbing her eyes tiredly. After watching the last match, they'd been just about ready to finally sleep when Kouji had called.

"He and Avaron got attacked. Someone tried to steal Kouji's crystal," Madoka relayed.

"And?" Benitsubasa raised and eyebrow.

"Don't worry, they're fine," Madoka replied, purposely wording it that way. Benitsubasa rolled her eyes.

"Great, so why are we still awake?" Benitsubasa yawned and stretched her arms above her head. "I'm going to bed."

"You're all heart, love." Sukaime rolled her eyes.

**. . .**

To say that his day was pleasant would have been completely untrue. The "game" was getting to be downright bad for his health. Being forced to go to work on less than six hours of sleep was torture. Not to mention all the stress from the fights. Oriha was nearly head-to-toe bandages. Fortunately her injuries were all fairly shallow and she'd assured him she'd be fine. He was really glad he'd chosen to stock up on bandages a while back.

There was also one other thing on his mind. As far as he knew, Minato had no idea that a thief was on the loose. Minato had a lot of sekirei, strong ones at that as far as he could tell. There was a good chance that if Minato ended up in the third round that he'd emerge victorious. That meant he could easily become a target. What if he got caught off guard? He needed to be warned.

But how was he to warn Minato? Lie and say he'd faced the thief himself? He could he supposed, Kouji had given him a decent enough description. It wouldn't be too hard to fabricate a lie, but he was starting to get sick of lies and secrets. Would it be so bad if Minato knew about Kouji and Avaron? What was the worst that could happen? And it was that train of thought that led to another dinner invitation at Izumo inn.

"I hope this doesn't blow up in my face," Madoka grumbled nervously.

"I'm sure it'll be fine. I don't see how this changes much," Kaie commented. "Why should he care if you have other allies?"

"That's what I'm trying to tell myself. I guess as long as he doesn't get offended that I didn't tell him sooner it won't be a problem."

"Or maybe he'll be intimidated by our numbers!" Sukaime cackled.

"The bastard has five sekirei. We outnumber him by one. It's not that impressive." Benitsubasa glowered. She'd never liked Minato and apparently she wasn't planning on changing her mind any time soon.

"Eh, fine, then quality over quantity."

"He has two single numbers." Benitsubasa rolled her eyes.

"Whose side are you on?" Sukaime cried incredulously.

"Mine."

"So not mine?" Madoka couldn't resist.

"M-my side includes you!" Benitsubasa stuttered, off guard.

"What does that even mean?" Oriha asked.

"Shut up! It makes perfect sense! It means exactly what I mean it to... mean." Benitsubasa's face was bright red, but whether from embarrassment or rage was impossible to tell. After that Benitsubasa was too moody to be especially conversational, and Sukaime quickly became bored of prodding her. About twenty minutes later they reached Izumo inn.

"So-" Madoka began to speak but Benitsubasa cut him off.

"I know, I know. Behave, be nice, blah blah, don't rip Musubi's head off." Benitsubasa crossed her arms with a resigned scowl.

"That about covers it, yes." Madoka rolled his eyes.

"Ah, she's well trained. Good girl." Sukaime patted her on the head.

"The rules don't extend to you." Benitsubasa glowered murderously.

"Maybe you should just behave in general while we're in public," Kaie suggested. Benitsubasa began to protest, but a glance from Madoka silenced her.

"Shit..." Benitsubasa muttered in exasperation.

With Benitsubasa, hopefully, under control, they went up to the door and made their presence known. The door was soon answered, and it was Tsukiumi.

"Well, it seems you're on time. That's good," she said. Madoka could tell it was killing her to be polite. She didn't seem like a rude person necessarily, but he could tell that she was like Benitsubasa in that the whole concept of an alliance didn't quite agree with her. "Minato!" She called out over her shoulder. When she looked back at them her eyes caught Sukaime's.

Before long Tsukiumi's face flushed red and she shifted uncomfortably. Before long she just gave up and walked away. Madoka caught Sukaime grinning.

"Thanks for that, Madoka-kun," Sukaime said.

"No idea what you're talking about." Madoka cleared his throat.

"Of course."

"What just happened?" Oriha blinked in confusion.

"Nothing. Nothing." Sukaime flipped her hair innocently.

"Just Sukaime being Sukaime," Benitsubasa muttered and crossed her arms.

"What?" Oriha still looked completely lost.

"Like she said. It's Sukaime." Kaie shrugged.

"But... wha-... yeah good point." Oriha shook her head.

"Hey!" Minato greeted when as he jogged over. "Err, where'd Tsukiumi go?"

"I think she's still getting used to us. I'm not offended." Madoka shrugged. "So, can we come in?" he asked.

"Yeah, of course. This way." Minato led them in to a room where they could all sit. It wasn't long before Musubi descended upon them with her usual cheerful attitude.

"Benitsubasa-chan! Hi!" Musubi accosted the pink-haired girl immediately.

"Here we go again," Benitsubasa muttered under her breath. While his and Minato's sekirei interacted, the two ashikabi got to speaking.

"Oh, before I forget again, congratulations on winning the first round!" Minato told Madoka.

"Right, thanks." Madoka nodded.

"_You're right. I'm having all kinds of fun right now."_ _Benitsubasa's eyes glistened with excitement._

Madoka did his best to shake off the chilling memory. He glanced at her, trying to remind himself that she wasn't a total psychopath. Right now she just looked like a normal, moderately impatient, girl... with bright pink hair and sparring gloves. Well, it was still better than the sadistic face in his memory. He'd seen her in fights before, enjoying herself, winning, but never like that. She'd been absolutely reveling in it with blood still dripping from her.

"So, I guess we should talk about why you're here." Minato changed the subject. It wasn't exactly a pleasant subject change, but it was welcomed.

"Right, the thief." Madoka nodded.

"And your friends..." Minato added nervously. Madoka just nodded. "L-look, you've helped me out a lot. I mean it's a little surprising to hear, but I get it. In hindsight, the fact that you were so willing to be friendly makes a lot more sense now."

"I guess." Madoka shifted uncomfortably. He hadn't exactly been in a rush to fight Avaron either when they'd first met. It wasn't like Madoka had needed to learn the ways of peace and coexistence. He just really didn't want to fight unless he had to. Sometimes he wished he was the one who'd escaped that night on the bridge. "So... we're good?"

"Yeah." Minato nodded. "You knew them first right? It's not like you do it behind my back to plot against me."

"Nope, no plotting at all," Madoka assured him. Though, it was at that moment he realized that his alliance with Minato had been completely behind Avaron and Kouji's back. He forced back a grimace and decided to deal with that problem later.

"Anyway, remember that day we warned you about the sekirei who was going around eliminating sekirei without revealing her identity?" Minato asked. Madoka had to think for a moment, but he did remember that. Mostly though, he just remembered Benitsubasa doing her darnedest to demoralize Musubi.

"You... think it's the same sekirei?" Madoka supposed that was actually a strong possibility.

"I do. I spoke to Matsu after you called. We've agreed that that's probably the case."

"Well, I figured with a team like yours, you're bound to end up with a jinki. That would turn you into a target," Madoka explained. Minato nodded, but then his eyes went wide.

"Wait! Musubi and Tsukiumi ran into the sekirei that we're talking about! Did your friend give you a description? We could see if they match!" Minato looked excited at his realization.

"Yeah. He said she wore all white. Kind of, errr, skimpy and with a hood. She fought with cloth," Madoka relayed what Kouji had told him.

"That's her." Madoka looked up to see that Tsukiumi had returned. Her arms were crossed and her expression was serious.

"She got away from you _and_ Musubi?" Madoka asked. Well, she'd also gotten away from Namiji and Masukagami, and Masukagami could teleport. She must have been strong.

"She had help," Tsukiumi suddenly shot an angry glare across the room. Madoka followed it to see the woman who'd arrived on the bridge at the end. Sukaime had told him her name was Kazehana. So it was true that Minato had winged her.

"I had my reasons." Kazehana smiled back in a way that Madoka wanted to say was mysterious.

"Hmph. I don't want to hear it from someone who doesn't even recycle!" Tsukiumi shouted.

". . . what?" Madoka raised an eyebrow. Minato's sekirei were even stranger than his.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa was quietly muttering every swear she knew to herself in an attempt not to smack Musubi every time she opened her mouth. She was trying, really trying, to get used to the girl. She supposed it was good that she was in a rather good mood at the moment. Otherwise she'd have exploded by now. She'd just _had_ to save her, hadn't she? Now Musubi assumed they were best friends or something. Shijime was bad enough, she didn't need another excitable moron clinging to her.

She'd overheard a little of Madoka and Minato's conversation, and thus had turned her attention to Kazehana. How the hell had Minato winged her? Number 3, such a low number.

"How the hell does that wimp do it?" Benitsubasa mumbled.

"What wimp?" Musubi asked.

"Your wimp! Your ashikabi! He's a quivering little idiot, but he has five sekirei and two single numbers!" Benitsubasa grumbled. Apparently Musubi didn't take it as seriously as the last time Benitsubasa had insulted her ashikabi, because she just laughed.

"Six and four!" Musubi said.

"Say what now?" Benitsubasa blinked. She didn't mean...

"Minato has me, Kuu-chan, number two Matsu, number three Kazehana, number nine Tsukiumi, and now number six!" Musubi explained. "Kagari-san! Come here!" she called out.

"S-seriously?" Benitsubasa's jaw dropped. _Another_ low single number? And Matsu was one as well? Well, six was still higher than the single number that Oriha and Sukaime had fought, but only by one. Why did Minato have so many strong sekirei? Who was he? What kind of horrible things was he doing behind closed doors? Was he really as meek as he seemed? _"H-he must be a real carnivore!" _Benitsubasa blushed at the thought and shivered.

After a few moments, a tall, slender figure in black clothing walked into the room. She had a fairly average figure as far as curves went, and her shirt was unbuttoned towards the bottom, revealing some of her midriff. She also has startlingly familiar, short white hair.

"Hmm..." Benitsubasa narrowed her eyes. Something was bothering her.

"What is it Musubi? I'm not really in the mood to socialize right now," Kagari said. Wait, her voice...

"I wanted to introduce you to Benitsubasa-chan! She's the one who saved me on the bridge! Oh, and Kaie helped me too, over there!" Musubi pointed to Kaie. Everyone turned to look at Kaie. For a moment her face looked a bit blank, staring at Kagari, but then she just smiled.

"Nice to meet you," Kaie introduced herself pleasantly. Kagari just sighed.

"It's OK, I can tell you know. Everyone here already knows," Kagari said. "I'm honestly surprised that mask fooled as many people as it did."

"I see. I didn't want to make a scene. Thank you though, everything worked out. You were right," Kaie said, her smile growing a little.

"I'm glad." Kagari nodded.

"Wait! Mask? IT _IS_ YOU! I KNEW IT! B-but you were a guy!" Benitsubasa shouted, pointing at him.

"I-it's a long story." Kagari's face turned bright red. "I'll be going."

"Oh! You both know Kagari-san?" Musubi's face brightened. "How did you meet?"

"You know, i-it's a long story. Never mind," Benitsubasa decided to just drop the whole thing and let Kagari go. Madoka knew her story, but Musubi didn't need to.

"A very long story." Kagari nodded, face returning to its normal color. "It was nice seeing both of you again. I'm glad things turned out so well."

"Wow, Benitsubasa darling, you have so many friends. I'm jealous." Sukaime chuckled, laying on her stomach, feet kicking up in the air.

"Ugh." Benitsubasa's face collided with her palm. _"Dammit Shijime!"_

**. . .**

Madoka and Minato quickly ran out of important things to talk about. Aside from getting a free meal, though Miya asked Oriha to help her with some of the preparations, which Oriha enjoyed, Madoka wasn't really getting that much out of being there. He supposed it was at least nice to socialize a little, but considering the reason he'd gone there, it was feeling like a waste of time. He'd learned next to nothing about the thief, and the entirety of their conversation about her could have been handled in a two minute phone conversation or five text messages.

The feeling didn't last long though.

After eating, Madoka and Minato were sitting away from their sekirei, taking a rare chance to relax without being clung to in some way. Well, Madoka was relaxing, Minato was fidgeting with his phone.

"Something up?" Madoka asked.

"Heh, it's just ever since these fights started, I've been nervous about my phone. I keep waiting for it to go off," Minato replied. "And, well, never mind."

"Come on, I helped you break the rules and ended up in the hospital 'cause of you. You gonna start keeping secrets?" Madoka grinned.

"Ah, s-sorry, no-"

"I'm kidding. It's fine," Madoka patted him roughly on the back.

"It's my sister," Minato suddenly admitted. "She sent me a text a while ago. She said she was fine, but that she wouldn't be able to meet with me for a while. I get that she must be busy or something, but she's completely dropped off the map, and it's been a long time now."

"Your sister huh? Damn." Madoka was an only child, but he could only imagine that after getting a text like that, Minato must be worried.

"Yeah, Yukari. She's kind of a handful at times, but I can't imagine that she'd be in some kind of trouble. I don't know what she could be up to," Minato muttered. Madoka froze. Yukari? There was no way... was there?

"Heh, well, I can't imagine she'd be in too much trouble. If she got her looks from the same place you did, no one's gonna be going after her," Madoka teased.

"I-I guess," Minato chuckled weakly.

"But really, what's she like?" Madoka hoped he wasn't being too weird.

"She's not really anything like me. W-well, she kinda looks like me I guess, her hair anyway," Minato said. "But she's way more, um, energetic." So far the description was painfully similar to Yukari he'd met.

"Don't tell me she's as tall as you. That'd be a scary combination." Madoka laughed.

"N-no, she's... well I can show you." Madoka pressed a few buttons on his phone and then held it so Madoka could see. The picture Madoka saw nearly gave him a heart attack. It took every ounce of willpower to not scream or throw the phone out a window. It was her.

"Poor thing, totally looks like you." Madoka put on the most forced grin ever to adorn his face. _"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK! SHIT!"_

"Heh, maybe. Don't tell her that though, she'd hit you." Minato laughed.

"That kind of person eh?" Madoka twitched. _"She's already done worse than that."_

"Like I said. Energetic."

"Well, speaking of 'energetic' girls, I should check on Benitsubasa. It's been way too quiet." Madoka got up. "I'll be right back." He quickly walked away. He couldn't be in the same room as Minato right now. It wasn't his fault though, he clearly didn't even know Yukari was an ashikabi. He didn't know what he should do. With his head down, and so caught up in his thoughts, he didn't see Matsu and bumped into her.

"Oh, sorry. Mina-tan was just with you right?" Matsu asked.

"Y-yeah, that way," Madoka told her.

"Thank you." She nodded, but then Madoka grabbed her arm.

"Wait, I need to talk to you."

"Huh, why?" she looked puzzled.

"Because you're the smart one, right?" he asked. Matsu chuckled.

"Well, I guess you could say that. I hope you realize that I'm not going to keep secrets from Mina-tan though," she said.

"I figured," Madoka muttered. Regardless, he didn't know who else he should talk to, and just ignoring the problem didn't seem like a good idea, tempting as it was.

"But we, might as well avoid prying ears for the moment, this way." Matsu led him up the stairs to the next floor, stopping in an empty stretch of hallway. "All right, what is it?"

"What do you know about Minato's sister?" Madoka asked. Matsu looked confused, and a little concerned, but she answered.

"Just the basics, I've only seen her once and I didn't see much need to research her too thoroughly at the time, why?"

"Well... she's an ashikabi," Madoka said, deciding not to waste time. Matsu's jaw just about put a hole in the floor.

"What? No! Impossible! I would know! Dammit, I got lazy! I need to check!" She turned away, but Madoka stopped her.

"Don't bother, I saw her myself and Minato showed me a picture on his phone," Madoka explained.

"W-well then I need to tell Minato!" Matsu this time tried to head back down the stairs.

"Aren't you going to ask the obvious question?" Madoka turned to face her. Matsu stopped at the top of the stairs, and then slowly turned her head and sighed.

"What happened?" she asked seriously.

"Benitsubasa nearly got terminated. If my friend hadn't shown up when she did, she would have been. Yukari didn't seem too worried about whether or not I got caught in the crossfire," Madoka told her. "She was even ready to torture me for information."

"Dammit," Matsu swore. "Minato won't like that. He already has enough to worry about."

"Well, he's going to be a lot more upset if I run into her again." Madoka scowled. "Benitsubasa isn't the forgiving type."

"I know," Matsu replied.

"So-"

"Aren't you going to ask this time?" Matsu stared into his eyes. Suddenly he felt really nervous.

"What do you mean? It's obvious, Benitsubasa isn't exactly a nice person when she gets mad."

"I don't like this, but I'm going to make a deal with you," Matsu said. "Let me explain. Remember the lightning twins?"

"Wh-what?" Madoka's eyes went wide.

"Yes, I know about that. I have access to the MBI database, I can see the outcomes of all fights that have occurred and come to any kind of... conclusion," she explained. "Seo, Kaoru was a close friend of Miya's husband, and to some extent was an ally of Minato. I understand what he was doing, which is why I've kept quiet. I'm pleased that Minato has an ally, and one as powerful as you, especially with Seo gone... even if that is your fault."

"So let me guess, I don't tell Minato his sister's a psychopath, and you keep quiet about Seo?" Madoka sighed. Well, wasn't this a lovely mess.

"Yes. I'm sorry if this seems like blackmail, I have nothing against you. I'm just trying to do what's best for Mina-tan. It works out well for you too, it would be very bad for you if Miya knew what had happened," Matsu told him.

"Yeah, whatever." Madoka shrugged, staring at the floor.

"Now, could I ask one more thing? Yukari's sekirei, what can you tell me?" Matsu inquired.

"The basics I guess. Number one-oh-seven, Shiina. Some sort of crazy power that disintegrated whatever he touched or something like that." Matsu nearly spit on his face in surprise when he finished telling her that.

"Seriously?" Matsu grabbed his hands. "This is great! Kuu-chan has been looking for one-oh-seven!"

"What? Why?" Madoka was confused.

"Kuu is one-oh-eight. She sees Shiina as a sort of brother! She's been trying to find him!" Matsu let go of his hands, speaking a mile a minute at this point. "Now all Minato has to do is tell his sister to meet with him and they can be reunited easily! Yukari wouldn't start a fight with her own brother! It's totally safe!"

"Umm, th-that's good..." Madoka said slowly. He was lost, but it sounded like at least something good had come of all this. "Minato said Yukari had disappeared though. It might not be that easy."

"I'm sure she'll show up if Minato tells her it's really important! Now come with me and help me tell him! Remember our deal!" Matsu stared him hard in the eye.

"I got it," Madoka replied in exasperation. He was just having _so_ much fun.

**. . .**

"Wh-what?" Minato looked ready to faint. Matsu had just finished explaining to him what she'd learned about Yukari. Madoka had done his best to lie through his teeth so that Yukari didn't come off as a deranged lunatic. "Sh-she's an ashikabi?"

"Not just any ashikabi, she's the ashikabi of the one Kuu-chan is looking for!" Matsu exclaimed. Rapid footsteps were as the little sekirei in question charged over.

"Shii-chan?" Kuu shouted excitedly.

"That's great, but I have no idea where she is or what she's doing," Minato muttered in dismay. "Apparently she still can't meet with me."

"Mina-tan, it's your sister. I'm sure if you call her you can convince her to meet with you. Tell her the truth if you have to, there's no need to keep secrets from her anymore," Matsu told him. "It's not too late, I'm sure a teenager like her will still be awake. Call her now."

"Yeah, you're right." Minato pulled out his cellphone.

"Well, I'm glad I could help, but I think I'll be going now. It's a long walk home," Madoka spoke up.

"No, stay a bit longer. If my sister is available, it'd be great if I could introduce you two properly!" Minato argued. Madoka froze, and he saw Matsu shift uncomfortably as well.

"Sorry, nah. I think Benitsubasa's already hit her limit for socialization tonight," Madoka tried to weasel his way out of it. It was more like he was afraid he'd be unable to stop Benitsubasa from attacking Shiina on sight. Furthermore, he wasn't sure he could control _himself_ if he saw Yukari. "Besides, I have work tomorrow. My job is tiresome enough when I'm not exhausted from lack of sleep."

"O-oh, all right. Well I'm going to call my sister, I'll see you out after you gather your sekirei," Minato said and started dialing numbers into his phone.

Meanwhile, Madoka did as Minato suggested and went to collect his sekirei. He found them, perhaps unsurprisingly, in the middle of an argument.

"No! Don't you dare tell her about Shijime!" Benitsubasa yelled at Sukaime.

"Shijime?" Musubi titled her head curiously.

"Just Benitsubasa's _bestest_ friend from MBI," Oriha explained, a playful smirk on her face.

"I hate all of you," Benitsubasa grumbled.

"That's right Musubi, you have competition if you want to be Benitsubasa's friend," Sukaime said.

"We could all be friends! And then we could fight to see who's the strongest!" Musubi's eyes glistened with far more excitement than they should have.

"If that's what you do with your friends, I hope you don't mind if I pass," Madoka commented as he walked over.

"Silly, you're an ashikabi!" Musubi giggled. "Oh, but maybe you could spar with Minato!" Sukaime immediately burst into laughter at the suggestion while Benitsubasa just pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.

"M-maybe some other time," Madoka cleared his throat nervously. "Anyway, we're leaving."

"Fi-" Benitsubasa glanced at Musubi and sighed. "Yeah, OK." Madoka had to say her restraint was impressing him. She wasn't exactly being "nice" but she wasn't acting any worse than she did at home. Actually she might have been doing a little better. She wouldn't have hesitated to tell Sukaime or Oriha exactly what she was thinking. He wondered what exactly it was that was causing her to behave at the moment. He wanted to believe she was actually getting used to playing nice.

To Madoka's surprise, Minato approached him a moment later.

"Well, that didn't take long," Madoka said.

"She didn't answer. The phone didn't even ring." Minato sighed worriedly. "Matsu was right though, it's not that late. I don't get it. But now that I know Yukari's an ashikabi, it makes me worry more."

"What?" Benitsubasa spoke loudly.

"Minato's sister. Turns out she's an ashikabi and he's very worried because he hasn't been able to contact her," Madoka explained to Benitsubasa, a slight edge to his voice. He gave her a quick look which he hoped would keep her silent.

". . . k." Benitsubasa crossed her arms, though he could see sweat beginning to run down the side of her face.

"Well, I'm sure she'll turn up. Ashikabi aren't the targets of the fighting, I doubt she's been hurt or anything. Good luck, but we have to be going now," Madoka said, trying his best not to sound too hasty.

"Right, yeah. It was good talking to you, and thank you for telling me about my sister. I hope I can find her before something bad happens," Minato told him. Madoka hesitated for a second, but nodded.

"Me too. I'll see you around."

**. . .**

Benitsubasa had thrown a small tantrum shortly after they left, but there wasn't much Madoka could do about it. Knowing that Minato was the brother of the ashikabi who'd tried to order her execution was quite the shock. All Madoka had been able to do was remind her that just being related to Yukari didn't make Minato an enemy. Finally he'd gotten a grunt of resignation. It wasn't much, but he'd take it for now.

That was the previous night. Madoka and his sekirei were currently jogging home through a sudden downpour of rain.

"Gah, this is bullshit! I'm already soaked!" Benitsubasa complained.

"Sheesh, cat or dog, make up your mind! What are you?" Sukaime berated her.

"Tiger. And I'm going to rip your throat out if you keep it up," Benitsubasa growled threateningly.

"Oh come now. We all know tigers _like_ water!" Sukaime corrected her.

"Yes yes, now continue your zoology lesson inside!" Madoka urged them as he unlocked his front door. He held it open as the four quickly ducked inside. Madoka lingered for a moment and looked back up at the sky. It was rather ominous, and didn't look like it would be relenting any time soon. They were the darkest clouds he'd seen all year.

"Well, this is a depressing way to start my weekend," Madoka muttered.

"Um..." He heard a female voice, but it wasn't one of his sekirei. He turned to look and his heart immediately seized up. He saw a girl with long, black hair and a longing look on her face staring back at him.

"H-Hiromi?" His voice shook.

"Hi..."

* * *

><p><strong>Oh shiiiii- I wonder how many of you remember that name from two chapters ago.<strong>

**I'm also happy to discover that some of you are really liking Sukaime. It's awesome that a character I made can be so likable.**

**Til' Next Time**


	27. I Hate Exes

**It's the next chapter! And it's on time! And here we go!**

**Yeah, not much to say up here this time...**

* * *

><p><strong>I Hate Exes<strong>

Madoka couldn't speak. His entire body was seizing up, he couldn't get any words past the knot in his chest. What was she doing here? He hadn't seen her in well over a year. Why now?

"C-can we talk?" Hiromi asked, wiping a strand of soaked hair off her face.

"_No, I can't deal with you right now!"_ But his lips wouldn't obey. "Uh, I guess."

"Maybe... inside?" Hiromi asked, tilting her head up at the dark, angry clouds in the sky.

"_I don't want you in my house!"_ "Y-yeah, of course." He gestured for her to follow him, but he paused. What about his sekirei? How was he supposed to explain them? He'd been trying to stop lying, stop having to keep secrets, but now she wasn't giving him any choice. Even if he wanted to, MBI had forbidden him from telling anyone not involved in the plan anything. So he'd have to lie, but what lie would explain those four?

And yet when he walked in, there was no trace of them.

"You really have this place all to yourself?" Hiromi looked around as she walked in after him.

"Er, yeah. But, wait, how did you find out where I live?" Madoka realized he'd broken up with her _before_ he moved in. How had she found him?

"Your mother told me," Hiromi explained, looking down at the floor. "I-I wanted to call first, b-but I was afraid you wouldn't talk to me." Madoka sighed and shook his head. His parents had always liked Hiromi, of course they'd have spoken to her. Never mind how _he_ felt about it.

"Hiromi..." Once again his words caught in his throat, what was he supposed to say? "Why are you here?" Well, that was the big question, wasn't it?

"It's pathetic, but... you're the only one could think to go to."

"Wow, bottom of the barrel am I?" Madoka rolled his eyes.

"N-no! That's not what I-"

"Whatever. Why?" Madoka was grinding his teeth. He had very mixed feelings about seeing her again.

"It's, uh, you know... my family... again." Her lips began to form a weak, timid smile before her lips began quivering and she bit her lip. She was trembling. No, not just trembling, shivering. She was completely drenched from the rain.

"_Dammit, how long did she walk to get here?"_ His shoulders slumped. She didn't live anywhere near him. Which my or may not have been part of the reason he now lived where he did. "Go sit down, I'm going to get you something dry to wear."

**. . .**

"OK, you gonna tell us what the hell is going on now?" Oriha whispered harshly.

"Well, we're hard to explain, so we have to hide," Kaie replied in a whisper of her own.

"Something like that," Benitsubasa said quietly.

"But it's more than just that though, isn't it?" Kaie questioned. "What's wrong?" Benitsubasa was breathing hard, heart pounding, her head spinning. What the hell was this? Hiromi? That was the name Madoka had said. Just being next to him, hearing the life leave his voice for the split second had been painful. Now she was here. She couldn't imagine what he was feeling. She could sense the confusion radiating off of him. It was affecting her too, but it had to be worse for him. She wished she was out there with him.

"None of your business," Benitsubasa muttered.

"Hmph, it's not just you," Sukaime spoke up. Benitsubasa turned to see her jaw clenching, a contorted smile on her face. "Madoka's really hurting all of a sudden. Why is she doing this to him? Why's he so... sad? It's like he misses her, but wants her to leave. I don't get it, my head hurts!" Sukaime shut her eyes tightly. Benitsubasa took a deep breath. Sukaime's words gave definition to the feelings she was getting from Madoka.

"She used to... be with him," Benitsubasa explained haltingly.

"WHA-" Kaie had to slap her hand over Oriha's mouth before she gave them away.

"That would certainly do it." Kaie's eyes narrowed. Suddenly though Oriha began pulling at Kaie's hand.

"Pfa! He's coming!" Oriha warned them. They all jolted. What if she was following him?

"Quick! The closet! Kaie, you stay out here! You're in your work outfit so you look normal, you can pretend to be his girlfriend or something!" Sukaime told them.

"Hey, if anyone's gonna pretend to be his girlfriend it should be me. I look normal too!" Oriha glared at Sukaime.

"Pff, that's great, except for the part where you can't act your way out of a paper bag! You'd never keep your cool!"

"Come on!" Benitsubasa grabbed Oriha's arm and began dragging her. She hated the idea just as much, but Sukaime was right. She hated that the girl was smart.

**. . .**

Madoka walked into his room to see Kaie reclining on his bed in an almost, no, in a totally seductive manner. The fact that she was still wet from the rain with her dress clinging to her figure only served to make her more alluring. However, his ardor was as damp as just about everything else at the moment thanks to Hiromi.

"Kaie. What the hell?" Madoka groaned.

"I'm pretending to be your girlfriend. Sukaime thought I'd be easier to pass off than the rest of them," Kaie explained, smiling a little. "Or we could go with the cousin lie again if you'd prefer."

"Hopefully lying won't be necessary. I'm just getting her a dry shirt. She'll be leaving as soon as I know what's going on," Madoka explained. Part of him wanted to kick her out, but the other part of him was winning. That part of him, well he didn't really understand that part of him right now.

He went to the closet and jumped a little to see his other three sekirei waiting inside.

"Wha-" Madoka's mouth hung open. Well, he supposed there weren't many other places to hide when he thought about it.

"Eheh." Sukaime grinned and held a shirt out for him. Madoka took it and shook his head before shutting them back in. What had he thought yesterday, that Minato's sekirei were stranger than his? He was beginning to believe he'd been mistaken.

On his way back out he grabbed a towel and took a deep breath before going into his living room to face Hiromi again.

"Dry yourself off." He tossed the towel to her and placed the shirt on the couch next to her. It was plenty big enough to cover her up, considering his size compared to her. She fell somewhere between Benitsubasa and Kaie when it came to height, Kaie being only a half-foot shorter than him at most.

"You haven't changed," Hiromi said, taking the towel to her soaked hair. A smile tugged at the edge of her mouth. "You're still too nice."

"Yeah, sure." Madoka huffed and narrowed his eyes.

"What? It's only on the outside you appear to be an anti-social, asshole dropout." Madoka's nose wrinkled at that. Where the hell did she get off saying that?

"Someone's getting comfortable," he muttered.

"Like I said, it's only on the outside. You're just like I remember you, as responsible as ever. You still care, I can still trust you. That's who you are," Hiromi told him, face tinted red. He felt his own face must be the same way. "You were always trustworthy. You always took good care of me."

"People can change. They usually do, for the worse." Madoka scowled. She was getting too bold, he was regretting letting her in. What did she know about him anymore? He wasn't anyone to put up on a pedestal.

"But you haven't. I'm glad." She stared at him, and when his expression didn't change she shook her head. "If you have, then why am I holding this while standing in your living room?" She held up the towel.

"Son of a-" He grumbled under his breath. "Just change your clothes and I'll dry them for you!"

"Thank you," she told him. Then she started stripping in front of him.

"The hell are y-"

"What? It's nothing you haven't seen before." She didn't even pause, her shirt coming off, followed by her bra. In his state of shock Madoka couldn't help but stare for a few seconds before he regained his senses and turned away, face burning and heart pounding. What the hell was _he_ doing?

Finally she had the shirt on, but nothing else. It was knowledge that was stuck in his mind and making him very uncomfortable. Doing his best to ignore that fact, he put her clothes in his dryer and returned to his couch, sitting on the opposite end of it from her.

"So, back to why you're here. What's going on?" he asked, not looking at her as he spoke.

"I'm lonely," she said. "Everyone's gone."

"What do you mean 'everyone?'" He glanced at her. "You said it was your family."

"It is. This time it's worse, and it's never going to get better." Hiromi wrung her hands fretfully. "It's over."

"What are you talking about?" Madoka turned to face her fully.

"They're divorced! He left her! She's in the hospital, and he just goes and leaves her!" Hiromi's voice began breaking. "But because she's like that, I have to live with him, and every time I look at him... I... and that's only when he's actually around! A-at least if he tried to be there, maybe..." Her face fell into he hands, tears leaking through the cracks in her fingers.

"She's gotten that bad?" Madoka's eyes went wide. In the past, there had been many days when he'd had to talk her through her problems. Her mother had always been weak and sickly, and her father was an impatient man that made his own father look kindly. The man had never been afraid to argue, no matter how frail Hiromi's mother was at the time. It seemed he had finally given up on trying to hold their farce of a marriage together.

"I can't do it anymore! I can't keep pretending I'm OK!" Hiromi shouted. "I'm just so... empty!"

"Well, uh..." Madoka was at a loss. He didn't know what to tell her. "Wh-where's Saki in all this?" Sakiko had been Hiromi's best friend since long before he'd met her. The fact that Hiromi was here talking to him instead of her was puzzling. Madoka had spent a lot of late nights talking Hiromi through her crying fits, but that was before they'd broken up. He didn't want that responsibility anymore.

"You tell me." Hiromi sniffled. "She's gone. Just... gone. She started getting distant and then she just disappeared a few months ago. I went to her house once, but she didn't answer the door."

"_Son of a bitch."_ It seemed there was no getting out of this one, not without being a cold bastard about it. He didn't have that in him. "I don't know how I can help you."

"Me neither. I ran out of answers a long time ago." A long, tense silence grew, leaving the two exes sitting next to each other, staring at the floor.

**. . .**

"So. This is fun." Sukaime sighed. Kaie was still on Madoka's bed, while the other three sat on the floor in front of the closet, just in case they had to hide again.

"When's she gonna leave?" Oriha groaned impatiently.

"I know! Sekirei talk!" Sukaime's expression brightened.

"Why?" Oriha whined, flopping onto her back.

"Oh don't be such a child." Sukaime crossed her arms. "I think we should all share stories again! "

"What this time?" Benitsubasa stared at her dully.

"Well, I realized we all have another thing in common! Our MBI cards... or lack of them," Sukaime pointed out. "So, what happened?"

"Threw it in a dumpster." Benitsubasa shrugged. "MBI can go burn."

"K then." Sukaime turned to Oriha. "Next!"

"This was your idea. You go next." Oriha turned her head away.

"Fine, but you're only delaying the inevitable." Sukaime cleared her throat. "Well, as you may have noticed, my outfit trades function for sex appeal."

"You look like a cheap whore- OW!" Oriha complained as Sukaime flicked her nose.

"Be nice now."

"Fine... an expensive whor- STOP IT!" Oriha clutched her now twice offended nose.

"Then watch your language. You're too cute to be talking like that. Leave the crudity to Beni dearest," Sukaime scolded her.

"Just finish your damn story." Benitsubasa sighed.

"Hm. Anyway. I tried to store it in the obvious place for a while." Sukaime's hand went to the diamond shaped hole in her outfit that sat between her breasts. "But it kept slipping around and chafing. So I started just sticking it into my waistband."

"Sorry, you're not a whore. You're a stripper," Oriha muttered.

"You done?" Sukaime cocked her visible eyebrow.

"For now."

"Then one day, two fiends began chasing me. Fortunately Beni dearest showed up to gallantly save me, but when I got here I realized I must have dropped it in all the excitement. Madoka-kun didn't seem to miss it though, so... well you get the idea. Now back to you." Sukaime once more looked to Oriha.

"Fine." Oriha sat back up. "It was stolen. Before Madoka winged me someone else tried to, and he had his sekirei take my card. I guess he was planning on starving me out if I wouldn't go willingly."

"You never did tell me where you store things in that dress..." Sukaime stared at her.

"UGH!" Oriha growled and suddenly hiked up part of her dress. "Look! See? Pockets!" Indeed there was a small pocket between the black and white layers of her dress, sewn into the inside of the black portion.

"Ah, functional. But still not as sexy as me. Breast size isn't everything, you need style." Sukaime chuckled. "And personality too!" She looked at Benitsubasa.

"Fuck you." Benitsubasa glowered.

"Now, Kaie's turn!" Sukaime grinned. There was a moment of silence, and then all eyes turned to see Kaie who was suddenly blushing.

"Um, is this really necessary?" Kaie mumbled.

"Oho! Responsible, womanly Kaie has an embarrassing story, does she?" Sukaime cackled darkly. "Spill."

"I-I misplaced it!" Kaie pursed her lips and tried to avoid their stares. "I-I was buying food, a-and I must have left it in the store. When I went back it was gone! Happy?"

"Oh god I wish I could laugh right now." Sukaime had to put her hands over her mouth to keep them from being discovered. "Blondes, am I right?"

"At least she didn't drop it because she was trying to be 'sexy,'" Oriha scoffed.

"Ah, touche."

**. . .**

"I'm sorry." Hiromi fidgeted. "I'm just troubling you."

"It's nothing." Despite the history between himself and Hiromi, Madoka really had gone through a lot worse recently.

"I guess I'll just go when my clothes are dry, I don't know what I thought would happen if I came here," Hiromi told him.

"Hey, you were desperate right?" Madoka looked at her. "You must have been to come to me of all people." He managed a light laugh. "Sorry."

"You really didn't change. You're not surprising me at all, I'm glad." Hiromi suddenly smiled. "Everything else that's been happening to me has been a surprise, and it's never anything good."

"Yeah, that sucks," Madoka said. Ironically, he could probably give her a few unpleasant surprises if he chose to. He wondered what she would think of his sekirei.

"I was worried about you for a while you know." Now Madoka was the one being surprised. Then again, his ex had shown up on his doorstep, surprises shouldn't have been surprising. Which made no sense. Paradoxes aside, he wondered what she was talking about.

"Why?"

"It's just... what we were talking about before we, well, you know. I was worried what would happen to you when I wasn't around. I mean, I was always wondering what you were up to." Hiromi shifted uncomfortably. She also appeared to be blushing.

"Can we not talk about that." Madoka sighed. "For obvious reasons."

"No, I get it. I was stupid, I should have been paying more attention to how you felt. I really thought I was helping, bu-"

"Yeah, I know." Madoka cut her off. Hadn't he just said he didn't want to talk about it?

"I'm sorry. It wasn't any of my business." Hiromi clutched at the hem of the oversized shirt she was wearing. "I'm done..." As much as he didn't like the past being brought up, he found he didn't hate the apology. He stared at her for a few moments, and let out a long breath.

"Thanks." The silence grew again, but after some time passed he caught Hiromi starting to smile again.

"It... wasn't so bad if you take that away, though. Right?" Hiromi spoke quietly. He didn't like where this was going. "I really didn't see that coming. I'd always thought we were good, that it would work out."

"Well-"

"Maybe it will." He really didn't like where this was going.

"Don't." He whispered, but too quietly for her to hear. He felt his heart speeding up. Fear? Anticipation? She was moving closer to him.

"We could try again." Her voice was louder than he expected. He'd seen her moving, but suddenly she was so close to him. "Pick up right where we left off." He'd been dreading those words, but now she'd actually said it and he was confused. He caught himself actually considering it. This wasn't Avaron, he knew her, what he was getting into. Would it be so bad? No, it wouldn't be.

Her hand slid onto his shoulder, and she began to lean closer to him. His hand caught hers, and she gasped. He pushed her away.

"Stop it," he whispered harshly, his throat tight. "The way things ended, don't ruin it. The fact that we're sitting here not screaming at each other... leave it that way." Being with Hiromi again, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. But it wasn't just him anymore. The girls hiding in his room, he couldn't forget about them. "I can't fix what you're going through."

"I-I-" Hiromi stammered, eyes tearing up. Madoka wasn't sure what he should say at this point, but he was saved when he heard a click, the dryer alerting him that Hiromi's clothes were done.

"Come on, let's get you dressed." Madoka stood up, holding his hand out to her. He couldn't breathe, he felt like he was going to collapse. He wanted to hide, run away, not look at her. But there was something he'd learned recently. It hurt for him to push her away, to have her in front of him but to be unable to accept her. So for the one being pushed away, wouldn't it be worse?

**. . .**

Hiromi stood in his doorway. The rain outside had just about let up, so at least he wasn't sending her back into a torrential downpour.

"I'm sorry, I just ended up embarrassing myself. I guess I'm still stupid," Hiromi said. "Th-that's not even why I came here, honestly, I-"

"It's... fine." To say it hadn't bothered him would have been a lie, but he could manage. Hiromi didn't need the guilt. She didn't deserve feeling any worse. "I'm not offended, so just forget it."

"I was wrong, you have changed," Hiromi told him. Madoka tensed up, was she about to lash out at him? "I don't need to worry about you anymore. I'm glad. I wish I was as strong as you. You're a good person."

"I'm not that great." Madoka shook his head. She was right this time, he had changed, but not the way she thought. He'd become someone he himself detested. When he'd first found Benitsubasa, he hadn't been someone worthy of being an ashikabi. The fact that Hiromi held him in such high regard, he couldn't help feeling he didn't deserve it. If there was something good about him now, it wasn't anything he'd gained on his own.

"I disagree." Hiromi shook her head, and then looked over her shoulder. "I guess I should be going now. This is probably it, huh?" Madoka was silent for a bit, but then sighed.

"No. Don't be afraid to come back if you need to." Madoka wasn't sure why he said it. He wasn't one of those "I still want to be friends" kind of people, but he wouldn't feel right alienating Hiromi. Maybe he wouldn't ever see her again, but he didn't want her to feel alone. If just a few words could help, he could do that. Hiromi's hands bunched into fists and she bit her lip, nodding.

"Th-thank you," she whimpered. "I-I'm going. Bye." With that, she quickly turned and walked out the door.

"Yeah... bye," Madoka said quietly. This time at least, the memory he had of her walking away wasn't quite so painful.

**. . .**

Finally Madoka had returned to let them out. Oriha was glad the bitch was gone. Who did she think she was? Oriha had no idea who had dumped who, but if this Hiromi woman had dumped Madoka, then she was an idiot. If Madoka had dumped her, then Oriha had no reason to think she was any good. If she ever showed up again... well she wasn't sure what she'd do, but she wouldn't be hiding in a closet again.

Of course there was some chaos to be expected now that hiding was no longer necessary.

"Sukaime, what are you doing?" Madoka asked tiredly. Sukaime had climbed on the couch so she could be as tall as Madoka, and was tugging at his shirt collar.

"Looking for marks. There was a considerable lack of yelling considering who she was. Suspicion is only natural!" Sukaime frowned.

"Nothing happened," Madoka told her, swatting her hands away.

"But she was here for a while, and clothes were removed!" Sukaime pointed out. Oriha immediately blushed. She may have failed to put two and two together earlier.

"WHAT?" Oriha shouted.

"I said nothing happened!" Madoka insisted loudly.

"So you were just talking the whole time?" Sukaime's interrogation continued.

"Yes..." Madoka answered impatiently.

"And _nothing_ at all happened?" Sukaime narrowed her eyes.

"Nothing at all." Madoka crossed his arms firmly.

"Dammit, stop lying!" Everyone flinched at Benitsubasa's explosive outburst.

"I'm not! Just trust me!" Madoka wasn't changing his story, but he was definitely more nervous now.

"Then why are you hiding something from me?" Benitsubasa bared her teeth angrily.

"I-"

"Maybe this isn't a good time," Kaie interrupted them.

"No, he's keeping secrets! I don't like it!" Benitsubasa wasn't letting go.

"But she's right. He wants us to trust him, so shouldn't we?" Sukaime hopped of the couch. "Sorry Madoka-kun. I got carried away, I should know better." Benitsubasa growled, but her form relaxed a little.

"Fine," the pink-haired sekirei grumbled.

"Thanks." Madoka breathed a sigh of relief. "Oriha, come on, it's getting late. We should start cooking." Oriha nodded and followed him into the kitchen.

As they prepared dinner, Oriha kept quiet for a while. Madoka wasn't the most talkative person ever, but he was definitely quieter than usual. Oriha couldn't say she understood how relationships worked, but she knew enough that seeing an ex-girlfriend couldn't have been something Madoka had enjoyed.

"Are you OK? I-I'm sorry I yelled earlier. I shouldn't have let them gang up on you," Oriha finally spoke.

"Huh? Yeah, I'll be fine. Don't worry about it," Madoka assured her. "It's not like you can control those two."

"I guess," Oriha replied. She shifted closer to him, brushing up against him. Maybe she couldn't control Sukaime and Benitsubasa, but maybe she could at least be a good distraction from his problem. "H-hey, uh, after dinner... d-do you need help with any, uh, chores?" she asked, face burning.

**. . .**

It took Madoka a few seconds to realize what she meant. He nearly cut off his own finger when he did. Chores, the lie he'd told her to get her in his room a few days ago. He was in a weird mood for sure, like he'd been the last time. For much similar reasons as well.

He looked down at Oriha, feeling torn. What would happen if he gave in? But could he do that? Was it fair to her, to the other three? It wouldn't be because he liked her, it would be because some other girl got him riled up. How could he justify that? And so he took a deep breath.

"Sorry," Madoka said. He saw Oriha immediately deflate. It wasn't because he disliked her though, so he leaned close to her and pressed his lips against her cheek. He could see her eyes shoot wide. Her head snapped around to face him, and suddenly he felt frozen. Hovering so close to her lips now, he was tempted to not stop with her cheek. He felt tempted by her now, just her. Was his mind just trying to persuade him to give in, trying to find him an excuse? That was when he realized they were standing in a very awkward position in a room with no doors, just staring at each other. He quickly straightened up and went back to the food preparations. "W-we should finish cooking."

"Y-yeah," Oriha agreed.

**. . .**

Finally his day was over. Maybe the hits would stop coming now. That's what Madoka was thinking until he saw Benitsubasa blocking his bedroom door. Part of him wanted to just turn around and go sleep on the couch. However, he decided against the coward's way out and continued his walk into hell.

"I don't like you keeping things from me," Benitsubasa said. At least she wasn't yelling yet.

"Sorry-" Madoka didn't get to finish as Benitsubasa pushed off the wall and went right up to him – and hugged him. It was a moment that could have actually competed for most surprising thing that had happened to him all day. Bronze medal material at the very least.

"I figured you needed it." Benitsubasa then ducked past him, head kept low.

"Uh... goodnight..." Madoka said slowly, brain still trying to figure out why his ears weren't bleeding. He wasn't sure he'd ever understand her, but, just like that, she kept giving him reasons to keep trying.

**. . .**

"Wake up." Sukaime felt herself being nudged. But she just rolled over and kept sleeping. "Seriously, wake up." It was Madoka.

"You have to kiss the girl to wake her," Sukaime mumbled tiredly. She heard Madoka sigh.

"Benitsubasa?"

"She may also try."

"That's it." Sukaime heard Benitsubasa growl. The next thing she knew, Sukaime was being lifted and shaken out of her sleeping bag like the last chip in a bag.

"Is a good morning kiss really that far out of the question?" Sukaime cracked an eye open, rubbing the back of her head. "So why do I have to get up early on a Saturday?"

"We're investigating something," Madoka told her. Sukaime immediately felt that he was nervous about something. "You might want your, uh, thingy."

"My thingy?" Sukaime tilted her head.

"You know, the thing you fight with." Madoka cleared his throat awkwardly. "Sp-spinny... err..."

"Seriously?" Sukaime gawked at him.

"It's a javelin." Benitsubasa rolled her eyes.

"Thank you." Sukaime crossed her arms.

"Just make sure you have it," Madoka muttered. Now Sukaime was curious. It wasn't like Madoka to go looking for a fight. What did he have in mind?

**. . .**

"Where are we going?" Benitsubasa asked.

"If we're lucky, it won't matter," Madoka replied cryptically.

"The houses around here are too nice. A cheap whore like me feels out of place," Sukaime commented. Looking around, the houses in the neighborhood they'd found themselves in were all on the larger side, with plenty of room between each dwelling. Some of them even had walls and gates.

"What?" Madoka looked befuddled.

"Inside joke." Waved off his concerns.

"I called her a cheap whore," Oriha explained. "Though I thought we'd decided on her being an expensive one."

"And now it's an outside joke," Sukaime quipped.

"Let's just keep going, we're almost there," Madoka told them, suddenly looking tired. Sukaime felt they might have finally broken his brain.

Apparently Madoka was telling the truth though, as a few minutes later they stood before a fairly extravagant house. It was surrounded by a wall with an arched gateway, though there was no actual gate to stop anyone from entering. Sukaime had been thinking that the houses in the area were nice, but this house was even more so. Now she really wanted to know what was going on.

"OK, I want all of you to stay out of sight. Find somewhere were you won't be seen, but stay within earshot." Madoka ordered them. When none of them moved he groaned and shook his head. "Look, this could all be a waste of time. If it's not, then I'll explain everything."

"And if it isn't, we just get to wonder why you dragged us halfway across the city?" Sukaime frowned.

"Fine, I'll explain either way, but for now do what I ask!" Madoka urged them impatiently. Sukaime still wanted answers, but it looked like he was dead-set on keeping his secrets for the moment.

"OK, you heard him, places everyone," Sukaime said, and the four of them shot off to find a place to keep watch in secrecy. She just wished she knew why.

**. . .**

Madoka walked up to the door of the large house. He took a deep breath before doing anything. This was either going to make him feel very smart, or very, very foolish. He knocked on the door and waited, but after some time there was no response. He took a step back and looked up, and caught a glimpse of movement in one of the windows. With a frown, he stepped forward and knocked again, harder. After a short wait, he knocked one more time, even louder.

Finally he heard footsteps approaching the door. The door opened and a short, mousy girl with medium-length hair and brown eyes was revealed. Everything about her was prim and proper, matching the extravagant house she lived in. Hair perfectly styled, and not a single wrinkle visible on her clothes. Really, really expensive clothes.

"Hello, Saki," Madoka said.

"W-we're not friends anymore." Sakiko scowled.

"Fine, Ueno-san," Madoka corrected himself.

"What, uh, what do you want?" Sakiko asked, looking nervous. She always looked nervous.

"Well, I'd heard you dropped off the map. I was worried." Madoka decided to try playing things cool.

"Huh?" She just looked confused.

"OK, long story short, I saw Hiromi and she told me you weren't talking to her. What the hell?" So much for cool, but he had a feeling being direct would yield better results.

"I d-don't see how it's any of your business." Sakiko began backing away, starting to shut the door. Madoka's hand shot out and caught the door before she could close it all the way.

"My ex-girlfriend showed up at _my_ doorstep and began telling _me_ all her problems instead of _you,_ the best friend. That's a fucking problem," his face scrunched up in frustration. He was angry, and much bigger than her. She was definitely scared now. "You think I want to deal with that shit?"

"OK! OK!" Sakiko whimpered and stepped out of the house, shutting the door behind her. The way she did her best to block his view into the house with her body as she did so made him suspicious.

"All right then," Madoka spoke a little more calmly now that she was at least somewhat cooperating. "Now, mind telling me what's going on?"

"L-look, I, um, I have been avoiding her, OK?" Sakiko mumbled timidly. "But, well, I mean I'm sorry, b-but I don't see why I have to talk to you."

"Because I'm not going away until I know this is solved and I don't have to worry about it anymore," Madoka told her firmly.

"Well I doubt she's going to g-go back to you again," Sakiko said. "I can only imagine h-how things went."

"Oh yeah? What's that supposed to mean?" She was really trying his patience.

"N-nothing, s-sorry. C-can you j-just go? P-please?" Sakiko began heading back to her house. This time Madoka grabbed her arm to stop her.

"What's the big secret?" He demanded.

"L-l-let go!" Sakiko struggled. He was getting nervous now, he hadn't wanted it to go this far. "Th-there's no secret!"

"Then what's going on? Why would you of all people abandon her?" Madoka's eyes narrowed.

"I couldn't deal with her anymore! I had my own problems, and she was so depressing!" Sakiko broke, shouting at him. "You think y-you have ex problems? Mine was st-stalking me!"

"So leaving her to her misery fixed everything?" Madoka replied in disbelief.

"Now let me go!" Sakiko yelled. He decided it would probably be a good idea. There was no way this looked good. However, it seemed that he just might have gotten what he wanted, even if he'd had to be a little more forceful with her than he'd wanted.

The door flew open and a young man with messy black hair that hung in his face jumped out. He flew across the short courtyard and tore Madoka away from Sakiko, grabbing the collar of his shirt and holding him at bay.

"Get your hands off of her!" The man roared.

"Hey, hey. Calm down," Madoka said, but then his hand flew out to grab the other man's. His arm didn't budge an inch. Madoka just grinned. "Heh, strong aren't you?" The other man looked at a loss at Madoka's lack of fear.

"Drop him or I break your friggin' neck." A voice spoke from behind the man and Sakiko. Right on time. The man turned to see Benitsubasa who had just vaulted the wall. Madoka was let go, but only so the man could turn to face her.

"Who are you?" the man growled.

"Sorry, I didn't greet you properly before." Madoka straightened his shirt. "Ashikabi-san." He had to resist chuckling at Sakiko's horrified expression.

"N-n-n-... no way, you?" Sakiko trembled. "Sh-Shigeru-kun, stay away from her!" she ordered the young man. "Madoka, wh-why are you really here?"

"I told you, didn't I?" Madoka said. "The thing is, I was a little suspicious. You disappear like that after being distant, and a few months ago? The time frame was too perfect. You'd never just stop talking to Hiromi unless something big happened. Big as in sekirei."

"Dammit," Sakiko whimpered. "Wh-why did you have to be an ashikabi?"

"Now, I'm not really into the whole fighting thing, so I'll make you a deal. You stop avoiding Hiromi, feed her whatever lie you used to make your parents let you keep your sekirei here, and I won't terminate him."

"Don't think you can threaten her!" Shigeru glared. "Get out of here and I won't terminate _yours_!"

"I don't think you quite understood me," Madoka said. "My sekirei aren't weak. None of them."

"Just give in now!" On cue, Oriha stepped around a corner.

"Seriously, Benitsubasa over there is scary!" They all looked up to see Sukaime sitting atop the wall. "I can be too sometimes. But if you really want to be scared, you should piss off Kaie!" Having been introduced, Kaie hopped the wall next.

"I'd rather you didn't," Kaie said. "I'd prefer to enjoy my day off from work."

"Th-this is against the rules," Shigeru protested.

"I'm not here to play by the rules!" Madoka snapped. "I just want this over. Look, I don't care _what_ you do, but go talk to her. Either tell her you're done being friends, or get your head out of your ass! You owe her that. Fuck, you owe her a lot!"

"She's y-your _ex,_ isn't this a little extreme?" Sakiko asked, trembling. Madoka just sighed and shook his head.

"Maybe, but maybe I owe her too." Madoka looked her in the eye. "Thing is, I shouldn't have to _threaten_ you to make you do this, so I'm a little pissed off just on principle."

"OK, OK! I'm... I'm sorry." Sakiko's voice began breaking. "I-I miss her... I'll do it."

"Good." Madoka nodded. "I'm sorry too, I didn't want to take things this far, but I had to know." He might not have been her friend anymore, but that didn't mean intimidating her didn't make him feel awful. This "game" was putting him through a lot of things he didn't like. "OK, we're done here, let's go."

**. . .**

When they got home, Madoka dismissed his sekirei.

"Thanks for going along with that," Madoka told them.

"Eh, I get it now. To think one of your old friends would be an ashikabi too. Crazy," Sukaime mused as she and the others walked off. Except for Benitsubasa.

"She had a point though. You did all that for your _ex_?" Benitsubasa stared at him hard. "Fine, you thought she was an ashikabi and you were right, but what about the rest of it?"

"Stop." Madoka raised his hand to silence her. "You wanted to know about me, right? Well come on, we should sit down. It's a long story." Benitsubasa's anger evaporated, replaced with a look of anxiousness.

"O-OK..." She nodded, and he led her to his room, and sat next to her at the foot of his bed.

"All right, where to start." Madoka stared at the ceiling. "Hiromi and Saki... I met them towards the end of junior high. And yes, believe it or not, hair is still involved. It was kind of funny really. Celebrities are always pulling ridiculous shit, crazy hairstyles and whatnot, and Hiromi was trying to copy one out of a magazine. She and Saki were trying to get her hair right as I was walking by, and I couldn't resist saying something. I told her not only was she doing it wrong, but that she'd never get it right just standing in a corner with a hand-mirror. I also told her that the hairstyle was absolutely ridiculous and would go out of style in less than a month."

"How did this not end with her slapping you and never talking to you again?" Benitsubasa cocked an eyebrow.

"Well..."

**. . .**

**-About Five Years Ago-**

"-furthermore, that's going to go out of style in less than a month," Madoka finished telling the girl. He wasn't sure what had possessed him to speak up. Maybe he just felt obligated to save her from humiliating herself with a god-awful hairstyle that she wasn't going to get right anyway.

"Wh-who are you?" Hiromi stared at him incredulously.

"Keisui, Madoka. I, uh, sit two seats over from you..." Madoka explained. He was actually a little embarrassed at this point.

"Oh, right." She looked a little embarrassed herself, having not recognized him. "Whatever, what the hell do you know about anything?"

"More than I'd like. J-just trust me. Or forget I said anything, I don't care." Madoka ducked his head and started walking away, but she stopped him.

"Err, s-so how _would_ I get it right?" she asked, blushing a little. It must have been humiliating to be asking him.

"About half a bottle of hairspray, but even then I don't think your hair is long enough to really pull it off. Just leave it natural, it looks better that way," Madoka told her. Her black hair went down to her shoulder blades, and had a natural gloss to it that made a lot of girls vehemently jealous.

"O-oh... I see..."

**. . .**

"Because you complimented her _hair_?" Benitsubasa stared at him, agape in disbelief.

"I guess. She was curious about me after that and started talking to me, and starting asking for my advice when she realized I actually knew what I was talking about. Eventually the hair stopped being the reason we were talking," Madoka explained. "We dated for a long time after that."

"You said you owed her. That Saki girl too," Benitsubasa mentioned.

"And here we go." Madoka sighed. "I'll start with Saki, that part's easier. Saki's family is pretty well off, as you saw, but that also means they're one of those families with ridiculous expectations. Saki's always been really shy and reserved. She did her best to live up to those expectations, but that meant she never fit in with anyone, because they were either jealous of her money, or just because she was socially awkward and absorbed in her studies. Hiromi let her breathe, she didn't care about any of that. She let Saki live normally when she was away from home. I think Saki would have broken a long time ago if it wasn't for her, she's just too fragile. Hiromi protected her."

"But what about you?" Benitsubasa was obviously more interested in his part in the story.

"You could say she protected me too." Madoka sighed.

"But... you're big." Benitsubasa blinked.

"Yeah, well, you tend to get in trouble if you punch your way through your problems." Madoka rolled his eyes. "Normal people go to jail when they smash someone's face in."

"You went to jail?" Benitsubasa's eyes widened.

"No, but I could have if Hiromi hadn't kept me in line." Madoka shook his head. "I was never a social person. I mean, I did OK, but after my first girlfriend my anger issues started getting a little out of hand and things started going poorly. I was really touchy, and people took advantage of that to get on my nerves. So yeah, I got into a few fights. After I met Hiromi though, she kept me under control. She stopped me from hurting people, or getting into fights I couldn't win. Being big doesn't help when you're outnumbered, and I wasn't bigger than _everyone_." Madoka chuckled. "She was tougher than she looked, she got into a fight or two herself over me. I remember one time she came out of the girl's bathroom with a bloody nose because some girl was dating a guy who didn't like me and started mouthing off. She ended up fighting a lot of my battles for me, not literally most of the time, but she defended me a lot."

"I guess that makes sense." Benitsubasa's head fell.

"I hated it." Madoka rested his chin on his hands. "She just kept getting involved in everything. I was grateful at first. It was like we were a team or something, but then it got old. She kept me out of trouble, and I learned a lot from her about how to deal with people, but she didn't stop there." He shut his eyes. "She was definitely someone who had the potential to go places, to make something of herself. It was like she wanted to take me along for the ride. It felt like she was trying to fix me or improve me. I just hated the feeling that she seemed to think she knew what was best for me and I didn't. I felt like she wanted me to tell her all my life decisions so she could approve of them or not."

"I kinda know how that feels," Benitsubasa muttered. Madoka chuckled.

"I guess you would, huh? I guess we both ran away from that." He smiled.

"S-so that's why?" Benitsubasa blinked her eyes rapidly.

"Yep, that's why I broke up with her." Madoka nodded. "I couldn't handle it. Maybe I was jealous of her, maybe I didn't feel good enough, or maybe I just hated her for being right about so many things. At the same time though, I couldn't _really_ make myself hate her. But I couldn't be with her anymore, it had stopped being fun for both of us."

"Is that why you let her in?" Benitsubasa asked.

"Probably," Madoka told her. "It wasn't a nasty break-up or anything. We just walked away from each other. Honestly though? It probably made it harder for both of us. We couldn't justify it by hating each other. But I'm OK with it now, it's over."

"What happened?" Benitsubasa looked at him. Madoka knew what she was getting at. He'd said could tell her anything right?

"She wanted to get back together with me." Benitsubasa's eyes went wide, and her body went rigid.

"B-but you said it was over?" She looked both scared and confused.

"I did. I rejected her. Nothing good could come out of it, not in the long run. Not anymore."

"Oh..." Benitsubasa said quietly, letting out a long breath.

"You know, you wouldn't think it, but you're good to talk to," Madoka told her, and threw an arm around her shoulders. "The running commentary is a bit much, but other than that..."

"Y-you expect me to just stay quiet when you're talking about your exes?" Benitsubasa looked away from him, with her face bright red.

"Fair enough." Madoka laughed. "Well, I guess that means there's just one last story to tell."

"Another one?" Benitsubasa's head snapped back around, eye twitching in incredulity.

"Last one, I promise." Madoka said. "So after Hiromi, I found some hot blonde girl, not a natural blonde of course, who'd also broken up with someone recently. I guess we both figured we could hook up, make our exes jealous and make each other feel better or something. I really shouldn't have just jumped at the first attractive girl who would take me, but being a stupid, horny teenager I did it anyway."

"A-and then?" Benitsubasa shifted uncomfortably.

"Well, and then one night while my parents were out, in my room, as she was taking her clothes of..." Benitsubasa's face rapidly grew both redder and more horrified. "Her ex texted her and she left me there looking like a fucking idiot. The end."

"S-seriously?" Benitsubasa's jaw dropped.

"Yeah. That really happened." With his stories over, silence reigned for the next few moments. "Well, that's everything." He eventually spoke up again. "I guess now you know what you've gotten yourself into with me."

"No." Benitsubasa shook her head. "How long have I been here now? I already know who you are. Now I just know why. It doesn't change anything."

"What do y-" Madoka was interrupted as Benitsubasa grabbed him, pulling him close and placing her lips against his. When the light from her wings faded, he couldn't find any words to say.

"Isn't this usually where you say something like 'what have I told you?'" Benitsubasa asked.

"Eh." Madoka shrugged. "It's been a crazy morning. Not the worst way it could have ended." Benitsubasa smiled, and then jumped off the bed.

"Wanna make it crazier?" she asked.

"How do you propose we do that?" Madoka raised an eyebrow.

"Take me out to eat and I'll tell you."

"All right, I'm curious. Let's go."

* * *

><p><strong>The end! This chapter let's us learn a little about why Madoka had a bit of an attitude towards the beginning of the fic. Teenage angst and girl trouble. Fortunately some lovely ladies showed up to snap him out of it, and now here we are. Also we found ourselves another ashikabi. That'll probably be important later.<strong>

**Lastly, I have a request. If you're going to leave a review, please, please, please make it relevant. I had two reviews that comprised of only "who is Hiromi?" Well, first of all, I told you which chapter that name first appeared in, so you could have gone and found out. Secondly, that's not a review, that's a question that I'm not going to waste time answering. It would have been nice if you had maybe shared your thoughts on the whole Yukari thing or Matsu and Madoka's conversation. The fact that you left a review at all suggests you're interested in the fic, and I truly appreciate that, but it's very disappointing to see an e-mail that says "review alert" only to have it say "I forgot who Hiromi is."**

**Anyway, with that out of the way, thank you for your continued interest in this fic. The next chapter will be coming out in about two weeks, and then another as usual at the beginning of next month.**

**Til' next time!**


	28. Innocence

**This is going to feel a little disjointed from the rest of the story, but it was an idea I had. As with all special chapters, we have a special title. Also – this is gonna be a long one. You might want to take a break halfway through.**

* * *

><p><strong>Innocence<strong>

**-12 Years Ago-**

"_It's time, Takami-chan! After this, only your two will remain!" _

"_I still think Shijime is too young. Even Benitsubasa is pushing it," Takami said. She wondered why she bothered. It didn't matter how assertive she was, or how much Minaka would insist that she was "in charge" or that she was the "head researcher." Everything was done Minaka's way and on Minaka's whim. Sometimes she wondered why she still worked for him. OK so she knew; it was because sekirei were so fascinating. She couldn't make herself walk away. Not to mention she shuddered to think what would happen if she wasn't there to smooth things out. Minaka was a lot of things, but responsible wasn't one of them. "You did this six months ago with the last four. You knew I needed more time with Shinjuryo."_

"_Wanted, not needed, Takami-ch-"_

"_Ugh!" Every other time he opened his mouth... Was there anything about him that wasn't infuriating? Well, sometimes he was actually brilliant. And he'd started what had potential to become the most powerful conglomerate... perhaps anywhere. He even had his charming moments. She was starting to get sick to her stomach just thinking about it._

"_The Plan must go on! No delays! This is happening, and I need you to oversee it! The tuners will need to be briefed and such. You don't need me to explain it again, though I coul-"_

"_That's fine," she said quickly. She wasn't going to get her way, no need to stay in the same room with the man any longer than necessary. "I'll take care of it, as usual." And with that she hurried her way out. She needed to round up those who would be moving on._

**. . .**

**-Present-**

Madoka had taken Benitsubasa out to eat, but so far nothing crazy had taken place like she'd promised. Afterward, Benitsubasa led Madoka to a park in the middle of the city. He realized it was the park where they'd found Kaie.

"What are we doing here?" Madoka asked his first sekirei.

"That tree, I saw the sign last time we were here. I, uh, didn't really pay much attention to stuff when I was younger, what's the story behind it?" Benitsubasa pointed to a large tree in the middle of the park. It dwarfed the other trees in the park, and had a short fence around it to keep people away from it. It also had a large plaque placed in front of it with the MBI logo emblazoned upon it.

"Oh, that. That was a big story when it happened, I'm surprised you didn't hear something about it," Madoka said. "There was an old tree in some town, but it was on private property. When the property owner sold it, the tree was going to be cut down. It was the biggest, oldest tree around, and I guess a lot of the residents had gotten attached to it. They petitioned to have the tree saved, but there was no way to stop the company that had bought the property from destroying it, and there was no way they could move it without killing it. The roots were too extensive, and they couldn't just cut them up."

"So... why is it here with an MBI logo in front of it?" Benitsubasa raised an eyebrow.

"Well, at least nobody _thought_ there was a way to move it, but then MBI stepped in. They said 'go ahead and chop up the roots.' People didn't want to listen at first, but then they ran out of time, so they had no choice. They let MBI step in, and they cut off all the roots and hauled the tree away. Turns out that MBI had the technology to reattach the entire root system and replant the tree here in this park. My father said they didn't really care, they just did it for the publicity. As far as I can tell, it worked. People were really happy about what they did."

"You don't say." Benitsubasa stared at the tree. She then hopped the fence and climbed up onto a branch.

"The sign says no trespassing..." Madoka told her.

"I think we've established I have no love for MBI." Benitsubasa smirked down at him.

"You're... doing this out of spite?" Madoka tilted his head.

"Exactly. Want to spite them with me?" Benitsubasa grinned.

"Sure, why not." Madoka shrugged. It took him a bit more effort, but he managed to get onto the branch next to her.

"Comfy?" she asked him.

"As I can be in a tree. Years of soft couches and beds have spoiled my ass." Madoka chuckled. "Why?"

"My turn to tell you a story. It's kind of long, but I want to tell you everything! You didn't tell me everything yet, but it was enough that I can understand you better. You told me what you were keeping secret," Benitsubasa explained.

"Well, so did you. We're even now, right?"

"It's not about being even!" Benitsubasa raised her voice, expression nervous. "I _want_ you to know."

"OK. Go ahead then, I'm listening."

**. . .**

**-12 Years Ago-**

"I'm sleepy," Benitsubasa mumbled. A small, delicate hand rose up to stifle a yawn. Takami had to admit she was probably one of the cutest sekirei she'd ever seen. Her long, pink locks combined with her tiny frame made her perhaps the most stereotypical "girly" thing she'd ever seen. Not _quite_ as cute as her own daughter, but she was biased. A close second perhaps.

The one thing that didn't seem to match was her huge, red eyes. Red eyes were something you'd imagine on a demon or some other blood-sucking monster, not an adorable little girl. They were perhaps the only thing to hint at what she would become.

"I know. I don't know what's taking so long," Takami said, stroking Benitsubasa's head. The rest of Benitsubasa's generation of sekirei had all gone to their respective tuners who would oversee their adjustment for the next few years. It had been hours now; where was Benitsubasa's tuner? She didn't know the man too well except to say that he was known to be a little eccentric. That didn't concern her too much as no one could compare to Minaka in that regard. By comparison she was sure the tardy man seemed downright plain.

And he was going to be downright dead if he didn't arrive soon. It wasn't so much that she didn't want to, but that she didn't have time to babysit Benitsubasa. Among other things, she had children to get home to.

Finally she was contacted and informed the man she was waiting for had arrived, and after a few more minutes passed she heard heavy breathing approaching and the door opened. A heavyset man in a dingy lab coat and glasses with messy brown hair staggered in. Heavyset may have been a little too kind. He was also sweating – a lot.

"S-sorry I'm... late..." the man said between gasping breaths.

"What did you do, take the stairs? We have elevators." Takami frowned.

"W-well, I got off on the wrong floor... and then someone took my elevator, and by then I was already late," the man explained, finally catching his breath enough to at least talk normally. "And I don't have a car and-"

"Enough excuses," Takami silenced him. She didn't need or care to know what had held him up. "Shurou, Satoru-san, correct?" she asked.

"Y-yes," the man did his best to stand up straight.

"Good. Security will have already checked you out, and I assume you know why you're here?"

"This... Sekirei Plan, yes." He nodded.

"Yes, you're going to be taking care of this sekirei's adjustments," she told him and gestured to Benitsubasa. "You have looked through the files you were sent, haven't you?"

"Of course. I wouldn't be here otherwise." The man grinned. "Well well, she's even more adorable in person."

"Takami-san, am I going with him?" Benitsubasa asked, rubbing an eye tiredly. She didn't exactly seem thrilled, standing behind her and clutching her pant leg with her free hand.

"Yes. Don't worry, he won't hurt you. We wouldn't send you with him unless we were sure he's going to take care of you. And we _will_ know if he isn't," Takami said the last part whilst staring hard at Satoru. "Keep in mind, that you're not just babysitting a child. She's an important, scientific asset of MBI."

"Of course, don't worry. I'm a professional." Satoru chuckled.

"What's an asset?" Benitsubasa asked. Before Takami could answer, Satoru knelt down, though awkwardly as his own gut got in the way.

"It means you're a very valuable little girl and I'll get in a lot of trouble if I don't do my job taking care of you," he smiled. Takami had to say that while he was late, and smelled awful, he at least seemed like he might do his job well enough. Benitsubasa was already loosening her grip on her pants and relaxing a little.

". . . what's valuable mean?" Benitsubasa asked.

"Well-"

"Don't even start. If you answer one question now you'll have to answer a hundred more," Takami groaned. She'd learned that one through experience. She looked from the man to Benitsubasa, "He'll answer all the questions you want later."

"OK..." Benitsubasa yawned again. At this point she was probably too tired to argue.

"Well, perhaps not all of them." Satoru chuckled. Takami cleared her throat to get them back on target.

"Now, I'm going to have someone drive you back. I can't have you dragging one of our sekirei through the streets in the middle of the night." Takami should have been used to it by now, but somehow she was never comfortable sending a sekirei away to their tuner.

**. . .**

A stereotypical black,corporate vehicle pulled up to an unassuming, small, one-story building.

"Well, Beni-chan, here we are! Can I call you Beni-chan?" Satoru asked.

"OK," Benitsubasa replied wearily, eyes drooping heavily. He decided that maybe he should tone down his enthusiasm a bit. It was hard though. The files he'd been sent hadn't given him that much information, at least not in his mind. Most would have been overwhelmed, eyes bouncing off the pages of data. He however had been left with a thousand questions and things he'd wanted to know. Question number one had been answered. Were sekirei cute? With another glance at Benitsubasa, he could undoubtedly say they were. He'd been unable to help wondering when he'd been told that not only was he being asked to supervise a small, female sekirei, but that sekirei were predominantly female.

However, that left him with a far more serious question. Farther into the files he'd been given was information regarding "combat capabilities" and "ability adjustments." There was no question in his mind that sekirei were designed to fight and that was supposed to be the focus of his work. So _why _were they predominantly female? They weren't human, so it would be foolhardy to base any assumptions off of human history, but yet human history was all he had to go off of. Of course some species of animals, like spiders, had more powerful females but Benitsubasa was certainly not a spider. He supposed he'd have plenty of time to learn more, but not now. The poor girl looked about ready to collapse.

He hastily wiped his sweaty palms off on his shirt before taking her hand and leading up to the door. He unlocked it, letting her go in first and then closing the door behind them.

"It's so empty," Benitsubasa mumbled, looking around. Indeed, there was absolutely not furnishing in the first room aside from perpetually closed curtains and a hardwood floor that looked like no one ever walked on it. The walls were a sanitary white along with the ceiling.

"Oh yes, terribly sorry. I'm afraid I'm not used to company... at all." He cleared his throat nervously. "Quite used to living alone. I suppose I should work on making it more inhabitant friendly. Well, it's friendly enough for me but quite the eyesore for you I'm sure," he babbled on rapidly.

". . . huh?" Benitsubasa looked up at him, blinking large, half-closed, and totally bewildered eyes. Truly adorable.

"Err, I'll fix it. Don't worry," he said a little more slowly and patted her on the head. "I believe I'll have to work on sleeping arrangements for... you?" It was his turn to look confused as Benitsubasa slowly shuffled forward until she found a corner, laid down, and curled up. "I guess I really was late..."

He spent the rest of the night rummaging through closets and storage looking for what little furniture he did have. He had one wooden chair, an old worn nightstand, two folding chairs and a folding table, a handful of blankets and pillows, and a futon that hadn't been unrolled once in the last four years. Well, MBI was paying him enough, he supposed he could put some of his funding towards sprucing the place up a little.

Before going to bed himself, he made sure to throw a pair of blankets on Benitsubasa and wedge a pillow under her head.

**. . .**

Two weeks had passed since Benitsubasa had been assigned to him, and a few things were beginning to become clear. The most prominent of which was the fact that when not tired, she was a terror to live with. She had taken to running to one end of the house, and then running back so she could slide across the floor in her socks. She would do this over... and over... and over... and over... and over again, not caring if she crashed into anything. She would also climb on top of the kitchen counter so she could reach the cupboards and one time he'd caught her playing with steak knives. He'd made sure to hide the knives after that.

She had way too much energy. He was constantly left gasping for air trying to keep up with her in an attempt to calm her down. She was slippery and could run faster than him. Sometimes she would even turn around and just duck between his legs to escape him. It was infuriating. She wasn't even four feet, nor even three and a half feet, tall but one thing he was learning quickly was that being a sekirei meant that expected limitations meant nothing.

Her files told him she was, in human terms, about six and a half years old. He had no idea what that meant to sekirei, though her outer appearance about matched that of a human girl of the same age. Well, minus hair and eye color that was. Physical capabilities more closely matched that of a teenager. Her legs were still too short for her to run _too_ fast, but she could already lift over twice her body weight, though she was a feather-weight, and could jump almost twice her own height. She could actually jump and grab onto his shoulders with ease whenever she wanted a ride.

Then there was her DNA structure. He shuddered at the memory of trying to get a needle into her, but after analyzing her blood he'd found her DNA to be incomprehensible. Unfortunately, he was going to have to be messing around with it so he'd have to learn fast. He could stare at it for hours, and whenever he thought he could understand it, he'd find something that made him have to start over at the beginning again. The information from MBI didn't help much.

**. . .**

"I'm bored! This house is boring! I wanna do something else!" Benitsubasa complained loudly, throwing the TV remote across the room, leaving it to clatter to the floor with its casing cracked.

"Easy! No breaking things!" Satoru was on one of his rare breaks from working and experimenting. He'd learned one other thing about Benitsubasa through his constant experimentation: she healed remarkably fast. He must have jabbed her with needles a hundred or so times in the past two months, but there wasn't a single mark or scar on her.

"Sorry," Benitsubasa muttered. "Can I go outside?"

"I'm afraid not. You're lucky that you're even in this house instead of a lab or some other isolated facility," he told her, leaving her pouting. This was the second time she'd asked now. He needed to find some way of making time go faster for her, even if the effect was only illusory. Television wasn't cutting it anymore, not for someone so energetic. "For now, go clean up your mess." With Benitsubasa off to retrieve the remote, he left to go find something to distract her with.

The house still wasn't in an especially amazing condition. He'd added a small couch and the TV to the living room and had found a more respectable, not folding, table and chairs to eat off of along with a bed for Benitsubasa to sleep on in her own room. He'd also given her an old nightstand he'd found. Other than that, furnishing beyond the basics were sparse. It was no wonder she was already going stir-crazy.

**. . .**

He'd found his old art materials buried at the very bottom of his closet. Before becoming a scientist, he'd thought in his naïve teenage years that he'd become a great artist. Oh he was more than decent with a drawing pad, but art classes in college hadn't led anywhere. No he'd soon gone on to other things when that fell through. He'd ended up a computer technician at MBI soon after it was founded, often working remotely away from the main facility.

It was almost a shame really. Now MBI was ever building up their little tower in the middle of the city. He supposed "little" wasn't really the right word. But stairs weren't really his thing and elevators could be too crowded. He really did prefer to work alone, and certainly not in a skyscraper.

But now his past was coming into play again. He'd given Benitsubasa all his art supplies and let her go nuts. He'd already needed to buy her ten giant drawing pads she went through the paper so fast. She wasn't any good, but she was only seven after all. If she messed around long enough she might accomplish something. That thought was short lived though.

So what if she drew and drew until her little fingers bled out amazing pieces of art? She was a sekirei, she'd be fighting. How much else mattered at the end of the day? For now though, he'd let her have her fun, and only occasionally interrupt it with a needle.

**. . .**

"No no, more to the left," he told her. With a little straining, Benitsubasa pushed the wardrobe in the direction specified. After two years he'd figured he should finish furnishing her room. Oh he'd added to it here and there, but he'd finally decided to just completely let her own the room and turn it into whatever she wanted. The walls were already a revolving door for all her, admittedly still sub-par, artwork. He felt like half his money went into pencils, markers, and paper.

He didn't care though. As long as she stayed tame and didn't struggle too much when he had to bring her into his lab to work on her. He'd finally started on the actual "adjusting" process. He'd figured out that it would be a very slow process, but that RNA played a big part in it. He couldn't alter the DNA much, but by changing what the RNA transmitted from the DNA to the rest of the body he could adjust her abilities. So far every change he'd made was temporary. He'd felt horribly guilty, but once he'd left her feeling weak as a kitten for a whole day. Not entirely what he'd intended, but a breakthrough none-the-less.

MBI's instructions on how to adjust sekirei were just too generic. It gave him a starting point, but he was left having to experiment to make the adjustments work for Benitsubasa. That meant unpleasant accidents were an unfortunate inevitability.

Right now though she was plenty strong, able to easily push and pull around furniture until it was where she wanted it. She was approaching ant-like levels of strength, able to move many times her own body-weight with ease, though her weight still wasn't that big of a number. That said, most adults couldn't easily lift over 200 pounds. She could do it one-handed. She was small, so it was awkward, but she could do it.

With the furniture finally in place, Benitsubasa stopped and looked around.

"The walls need to change," she stated firmly.

"Eh, you want to repaint it?" Satoru asked.

"Pink!" Benitsubasa beamed.

"B-but everything else in here is already pink, won't that be too much?" He chuckled nervously.

"It has to match everything else!" Benitsubasa scolded him.

"Of course, whatever you say." Satoru sighed. What Benitsubasa wanted, Benitsubasa got. Maybe one day he'd work a little more on discipline, but for now he just needed her compliance, no matter how it was obtained.

**. . .**

"Congratulations! Now blow out the candles!" Satoru urged her. Benitsubasa eagerly did so, blowing out all ten in one go. Just like everything else, her lungs were well above average in both capacity and power. He'd actually been worried she'd destroy the cake. "Double digits! How's it feel?" Benitsubasa was turning ten. Four years, long years, cooped up in a house. It took everything he had to keep her content. He felt terrible, but he'd actually been forced to reinforce the front door and put industrial strength locks and bars on the windows. She'd tried to sneak out once, and she'd seemed like she was just playing with him, but he couldn't risk her trying again when he wasn't looking. Now his house was becoming her prison.

"What's my present this year?" Benitsubasa asked, bouncing up and down.

"Well, you seem to get lonely sometimes, so I got you a little something to help with that." Satoru handed her a wrapped box. She tore into it with vigor, soon revealing a fluffy, white, stuffed rabbit. She gasped happily and hugged it so tight he was worried she'd pop its head off, but it withstood her assault. He honestly had no idea why he hadn't thought of this sooner. He supposed she'd just always been so wrapped up in her still rather shoddy artwork that he hadn't thought to branch out.

"I love it! Is it a boy or a girl?" Benitsubasa asked.

"It's whatever you want it to be," Satoru told her.

"A boy!" Benitsubasa decided quickly.

"And you can tell him anything. Everything that's on your mind when I'm not around, or even if I'm around if you feel like it-" Suddenly a beeping sound came from his hip. "Ah, sorry, I'm being called. I'll be back shortly." With that, Satoru was forced to leave her there. When MBI called, he answered.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa frowned deeply. It was her birthday, how could he leave her? She knew it was really MBI's fault, but they weren't here for her to get mad at. She didn't even know who "MBI" included. She knew Takami, but she hadn't seen her in years. There was also the man with white hair, but he was just weird.

"It's OK, he'll be back. It's not like he's being mean or anything," Benitsubasa told her rabbit. But after nearly an hour, he wasn't back. She was getting impatient. She began pacing around the living room, and after passing the window for the tenth time, she stopped and went back to it. She could see outside, but she barely remembered what being outside was actually like.

She grabbed one of the bars on the window and tugged at it. It was solid, but she was always being told how strong she was. She grabbed it near the base and then really pulled on it, soon causing it to give way and tear free. She reached past the remaining bars and easily snapped the "industrial" lock that held the window shut. She laughed, he'd gone through so much trouble and she'd already broken free so easily. She opened the window and slipped out, sliding the broken bar back into place behind her and then shutting the window. He'd probably assume she was just taking a nap if he couldn't find her.

She'd be back, and he never really got mad at her, so she wasn't too concerned either way. She turned around and walked up to the short, stone wall that stood between the house and the road, leaning up against it. But where to now? She had no idea what was in any direction. If she got lost, any plans for returning would be meaningless.

"Oh wow!" A voice spoke, startling her.

"H-huh?" Benitsubasa's head snapped around to see a girl a few years older then her staring at her intently.

"S-sorry! It's just you look so... different," the girl said. The girl had medium-length, light brown hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a windbreaker and shorts that showed off the toned legs of someone who ran a lot, and yet somehow she still had slightly round cheeks that didn't seem to match her legs. "Is it all real?"

"What do you mean?" Benitsubasa stared back at the girl blankly.

"Your hair, a-and eyes. I mean, it has to be fake right? Dye and contacts? But you're so young..." The girl mumbled, walking closer and looking her over. Benitsubasa didn't think she looked that strange. Aside from her hair, which apparently this girl found fascinating, she just wore a loose, white tank top and tight-fitting black shorts that went down to her knees.

"Of course it's real! Why wouldn't it be?" Benitsubasa scowled.

"B-but no one has pink hair and red eyes naturally!" The girl protested.

"Well I guess that makes me no one!" Benitsubasa argued. The girl's eyes went wide in confusion, and then she started laughing.

"You're no one? Well that's no good! You have to be someone!"

"I'm Benitsubasa, and it's my birthday!" Benitsubasa introduced herself. Why she felt the need to also explain that it was her birthday was beyond her.

"Oh, well happy birthday then! Is that rabbit new?" The girl asked, pointing at the stuffed rabbit. Benitsubasa nodded rapidly. "She's very cute!"

"He!" Benitsubasa corrected.

"Sorry. Oh, by the way, I'm Ayumi. It's nice to meet you, Benitsubasa."

"So can you take me somewhere?" Benitsubasa blurted out.

"What?"

"It's my birthday, I want to go somewhere."

"Well, that's not really up to m-"

"But I've never gone anywhere! I don't even know what street I'm on!" Benitsubasa complained, pouting.

"Y-you do live here right? Don't you go to school? You can't have spent every minute of your life here?" Ayumi's jaw hung open in disbelief.

"I moved her for years ago. This is the first time I've been outside," Benitsubasa explained. Ayumi's look of shock became one of borderline horror.

"Wh-wh-what's up with that?"

"I'm not allowed outside, it's not safe... at least that's what I keep being told."

"I-I see." Ayumi clearly didn't know what to make of all that.

"But I'm sick of it! I'm bored! I want to go somewhere! P-please?" Benitsubasa begged.

"Err, oh god, um, w-well umm, I haven't eaten lately... so... are you hungry?" Ayumi asked nervously.

"I'm always hungry!" Benitsubasa chirped.

"D-don't they feed you?" Ayumi looked even more nervous.

"Yeah, but I eat a lot," Benitsubasa answered simply.

"Oh."

**. . .**

As Benitsubasa shoveled her last bit of food into her mouth, she became aware of the fact that Ayumi was staring at her.

"Um... is something wrong?" she asked, wondering why Ayumi looked so surprised. "Did I get some on my face?"

"N-no. It's just you were telling the truth, you do eat a lot." Ayumi laughed nervously.

"Mhm! Is there more?" Benitsubasa grinned. She'd never eaten out of the house before. The food tasted much better than anything she ate at home. She thought it was definitely worth skipping her birthday cake.

"Are you trying to make me go broke?" Ayumi giggled, apparently not taking her seriously.

"Huh?" Benitsubasa just cocked her head in confusion.

"Well, the food costs money," Ayumi said haltingly. "You... do know how money works right?" Benitsubasa just shook her head. "Of course you don't." Ayumi hung her head. She then launched into a quick explanation of money, and the fact that things, such as restaurant food, cost money, and that her money was limited as she was just student in school.

"Wh-what?" Benitsubasa stared at her blankly, and then slowly realization came over her face. She'd been really greedy with her ordering, but Ayumi hadn't complained so she'd thought nothing of it. "D-d-did I use up all your money?" Benitsubasa clutched her head, fingers tangling up in her hair. She felt so stupid.

"What? No, no! Calm down, it's OK. I can afford what you already ate just fine," Ayumi assured her. "I mean, I _could _afford more, but I need to save my money for other things. I was saving it to, uh, do something with some friends of mine, but I can just find something that doesn't cost money instead. It's no big deal." When she mentioned that she'd had other plans for her money, it made Benitsubasa pout even more from her guilt. "I'm serious, don't feel bad! It's your birthday right? You deserved something!"

"But you don't even know me," Benitsubasa muttered.

"I know you're cute." Ayumi smiled widely. Benitsubasa just fidgeted. "Cute girls deserve to have a good time on their birthday, right? I'm perfectly fine being the one to give you that."

"Thank you." Benitsubasa sniffled. She liked this girl. She'd heard about friends, a word she'd heard mostly on TV. Did she have one now?

**. . .**

"Well, here we are. Are you sure you're OK?" Ayumi asked her.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Benitsubasa asked.

"The way you were talking earlier, I-. . . never mind, as long as you say you're OK." Ayumi waved it off, though she still looked a little nervous for some reason. Benitsubasa didn't get it, but she wasn't going to pry.

"So when do I get to see you again?" Benitsubasa asked excitedly.

"Huh? Oh... well, you're like what, nine? I'm older than you, I don't know that we have that much in common. Err-" Benitsubasa froze. Did she not want to see her again?

"I-I'm ten..." She bit her lip. Was this how her birthday was going to end?

"OK fine. I guess it would be lame to not see you again after I just spent money on you. You can make it up to me by making sure next time is fun, got it?" Ayumi told her.

"Y-yeah!" Benitsubasa nodded rapidly. She smiled ear-to-ear as Ayumi patted her on the head.

"I'll see you around then." Ayumi turned to walk away, waving over her shoulder as she went.

"Bye!" Benitsubasa waved back even though Ayumi wasn't looking. She then quickly went back to the window, pulling it open and prying the bar free again. She once more put everything back in place and crept to her room. She'd been gone a while, but as long as it looked like she'd just been taking a nap she'd be fine. She reached the door and opened it, everything was going smoothly-

"Well well, did you have fun?" Satoru was sitting on her bed.

"D-don't be mad!" Benitsubasa whined helplessly, cringing. He was staring at her hard. She'd never really been in trouble before, but she'd never done anything like sneak out before either. He looked really mad.

"Don't be mad?" Satoru repeated. "After what you did, you want me to just look the other way?" Benitsubasa wanted to nod, but she was paralyzed. That's what she wanted, but there was no way he was going to just ignore what she'd done. "I put bars on the _inside_ of the windows for a reason!"

"I-I'm sorry!" Benitsubasa sniffled, eyes tearing up.

"Are you? Do you regret leaving the house? Do you feel bad that you broke the rules?" He squinted at her expectantly. She just stood there, hiccuping. It was another question she couldn't really answer, not in a way that would satisfy him, but she was too afraid to tell the truth. "No, I don't think you do."

"Why can't I go outside?" she wailed. "I want to go outside! I don't like staying in here!" She shouted.

"I've told you! You're a sekirei! People can't know what you are! There are dangerous people out there, and they can't know about you. Furthermore, you stand out, just look in a mirror!" He was yelling. He never yelled, but she'd made him yell. She'd never felt like this before. Scared, sad, desperate. Her eyes were starting to ache as tears fell from them. What was worse, he was right. The whole reason she'd met Ayumi was because of her strange appearance.

"B-but I made a friend! I want to see her again!" Benitsubasa complained. She felt like she was sick, but she didn't want to give up that easily.

"You _what?_" Satoru thundered. "Who?" Benitsubasa winced at the volume of his voice. "No, never mind. You're not going out again, you hear me? Right now, people can't know about you. In time you'll be allowed out, but not until I say."

**. . .**

For the next few days all Benitsubasa did was hide in her room and cry. She confided in her rabbit, but that didn't help for long. There was only so much she could tell it, and after that she was still stuck in the same situation. Satoru was getting frustrated with her, she could tell. She was making it very difficult for him to continue her tuning. She'd spent an entire day refusing to go into his lab, effectively stalling his work. He'd eventually convinced her to comply the next day, but she'd still struggled.

She was now back to watching TV, having grown bored of her room. She sat in front of it, perhaps a little too close to the screen, clutching her rabbit to her chest. Satoru had attempted to feed her, but all she'd responded with were grunts or whines. There was a tiny part of her that actually enjoyed the look of despair on his face when she refused to talk to him.

Her television watching was interrupted when she heard a faint tapping come from the window. She looked up and immediately her mood lightened. She saw Ayumi peering in through the window, and she immediately waved when she caught Benitsubasa's eyes.

Benitsubasa raced over to the window and once again yanked the metal bar free. Satoru hadn't repaired it yet, so getting out of the house was even easier than last time. When she was on the outside, she saw a slack-jawed Ayumi staring at her.

"H-how... those bars..." Ayumi's voice quivered.

"I'm strong!" Benitsubasa said.

"You don't expect me to believe you broke those bars, do you?" Ayumi replied, eyes wide. Benitsubasa was about to tell her that she'd really done it, but Satoru's words rung in her head. As much as she was upset, as much as she wanted to break the rules, Satoru had told her many times that what she was had to stay a secret. She couldn't bring herself to rebel against that.

"I-I guess it was already kind of broken. B-but I am strong! For, uh, my age," Benitsubasa mumbled in embarrassment. Ayumi just laughed.

"Don't feel bad! Girls aren't supposed to be strong, that's what guys are for! Someday you'll find a guy to take care of you!" Ayumi told her with a smile, but Benitsubasa frowned.

"Why do I need a guy?"

"When you're older, you'll see what I mean. But for today I said I'd be back, and here I am! And I know exactly what we're going to do!"

**. . .**

"I-it was... shiny." Benitsubasa's head was spinning. "Everything was glowing!"

"Heh, maybe the arcade was a little too stimulating for you, but you're good! You react to everything so quickly!" Ayumi exclaimed as she led Benitsubasa out of the arcade. "Except for the claw machine, but those things are just unfair."

"It's fine." Benitsubasa sighed sadly. A prize from the claw machine would have just been evidence. She'd probably get caught anyway and wouldn't have been allowed to keep anything. At least, that's what she was telling herself so she could feel better.

"But we had fun otherwise, right?" Ayumi grabbed her shoulders from behind, face hovering inches from Benitsubasa's.

"Yeah!" Benitsubasa had to smile. Despite Ayumi being older, Benitsubasa had been able to compete with her in most of the games, and even win a lot of them.

"Good." Ayumi smiled back. "Well, here we ar-..." Ayumi stopped dead in her tracks. "Oh no." Benitsubasa stopped right beside her, starting to tremble. Right as they'd been approaching her house, Satoru had stepped out the front door. He was looking right at them.

"Here, now," Satoru ordered. With a quiet whimper, Benitsubasa began shuffling reluctantly towards him.

"Uh, s-sorry. I guess I'll be-" Ayumi began to nervously back away.

"Both of you," Satoru stopped her, an edge to his voice. In the shape he was in, Ayumi could have easily run away, but for one reason or another, she obeyed him and followed Benitsubasa.

"I-I-" Benitsubasa hiccuped, eyes tearing up.

**. . .**

"Inside. I'll deal with you in a moment," Satoru told her. It was taking everything he had to keep some semblance of calm. Benitsubasa nodded slowly and shuffled her way inside.

"Uh, I-I know I pr-probably shouldn't have helped her sneak out, b-but we weren't doing anything bad, I promise," the girl who'd been with Benitsubasa began babbling. "W-well besides the whole sneaking thing."

"Who are you?" Satoru crossed his arms. At a glance, she didn't seem like a bad person, but glances could only tell so much.

"K-K-Kirisaki, Ayumi." The girl gulped.

"And?" Satoru tilted his head down at her.

"Uh, err, uh, I-I'm just a j-junior high student." The girl was clearly petrified. That was good.

"Where did you take her?" He continued his interrogation.

"To an arcade. That's all. I promise! Please don't call the police on me! I just felt bad for her!" Ayumi begged. She looked ready to pass out or throw up. Or both.

"I see." He didn't have any reason to not believe her. He'd just ask Benitsubasa and hope their stories matched up.

"I-I won't come back, honest, s-so-"

"Don't bother." Satoru let out a long breath. "Whatever your plans were with her, just wait a week before coming back. She shouldn't be doing things without permission." If anything bad happened, MBI would have his head, but he couldn't bring himself to shut Benitsubasa in any longer.

"S-so I'm not in trouble?" Ayumi looked stunned.

"Of course you are, but you're not my child so I can't do anything about it. So at the same time, not really. Let's just say I'm not very happy right now." Satoru frowned deeply at her.

"I understand. I'm really sorry, I didn't mean anything bad! I-it's just after talking to her, I couldn't leave her alone, you know?" Ayumi laughed nervously. Satoru had to adjust his glasses to hide the fact that her words brought a small smile to his lips. He had an image to uphold.

"I'm sure, but it's time for you to leave," he told her once he'd regained his composure.

"Oh, r-right. Y-you said a week?" Ayumi asked. Satoru nodded, but then pulled a pen and paper out of his coat pocket and wrote down a number.

"Yes, and call ahead next time." He handed her a piece of paper.

"S-sure! Thank you." Ayumi bowed her head, and then turned and ran off.

"Well, she's not the worst teenager I've ever met," Satoru said to himself. That said, he'd be running a background check on her. MBI had its uses.

**. . .**

"All right, get into the car," Satoru told her as he led her outside.

"I s-said I was sorry! Don't give me back!" Benitsubasa clung to his pant legs, bawling pitifully.

"I told you! It's just an examination! You're getting one every year now to monitor your progress! We'll be heading back, together, afterward." finally it seemed to sink in and she nodded. With that out of the way, Satoru entered the black MBI vehicle first and Benitsubasa followed him in.

It wasn't a long drive from Satoru's house to the massive MBI building, but it was long enough for Benitsubasa to get nervous.

**. . .**

What exactly would "monitoring her progress" involve? Benitsubasa wondered. Would there be more needles? Would they ask lots of complicated questions? Would she have to do anything? Who would be examining her? Could she... fail?

And what would happen if she did?

They reached the skyscraper, and entered through a side-entrance that was hidden from public view. She wondered what Ayumi was doing right now. Probably something fun, obviously without her, that didn't involve secret MBI check-ups. Did Ayumi even miss her?

"Ah, good, you're here!" A woman spoke as they walked in. "That's everyone."

"Sahashi-san!" Benitsubasa's expression brightened at the sight of the woman. Her hair was grayer than she remembered, but other than that she hadn't changed much.

"It's good to see you again, Benitsubasa-chan. I wish I could spend more time talking to you, but I'm afraid I'm just here to check everyone in, I'm not directly involved in the evaluations," Takami explained.

"I'm sure you'll be making sure they didn't mess up though, right?" Satoru said.

"Of course." Takami nodded, then looked back to Benitsubasa. "Is he treating you well?" Benitsubasa noticed Satoru's body tense up at the question. She hesitated for a moment, but then answered.

"Y-yeah, he's great!" Benitsubasa managed to smile.

"Really?" Takami apparently still had suspicions.

"W-well, I don't like needles." It wasn't a lie exactly.

"Ah, unfortunately there's no getting around that though. Anyway, it's time for you to head up. Shurou-san, you'll be going somewhere else." She pointed to another man in a suit. The man motioned for Satoru to follow him.

"What?" Benitsubasa was confused. Satoru wasn't going to be with her?

"It'll be fine, Beni-chan. You'll see me again before you know it." Satoru smiled at her. "I'm sure they just want to ask me lots of boring questions."

"O-OK..."

**. . .**

"That's the last one right?"

"Only three this time?"

"The last batch wasn't that big either."

"Yes, but just three? It's still a lot smaller."

"It's the one-hundreds, that's why."

"So? The previous batches were a lot bigger. Most were around eight!"

"These special ones get more attention. Besides, there aren't enough left to make big batches."

"Special huh? You hear what else they're calling them? Exp-"

"Don't you have work to be doing?" Takami walked over to a group of three scientists that were gossiping.

"Ah, S-Sahashi-san! O-of course, very sorry!" The three hastily bowed and scurried off.

"What were they talking about?" Benitsubasa asked.

"Nothing for you to worry about." Takami smiled. "Anyway, why don't you go wait over there. There's another sekirei to keep you company. Someone will come fetch you shortly. You're the last to arrive and the evaluations have already begun."

"O-OK." Benitsubasa nodded. The room wasn't very big. There was a large, double door at one end, a door leading to a staircase at the other, and of course the elevator. There were no windows, and everything was bland and sterile. The lighting was also kept low, but bright enough to see well.

She saw another girl sitting on a bench. She looked even younger than Benitsubasa. As she walked over, the girl looked up.

"O-oh, hi!" She grinned.

"Um, hi." Benitsubasa nodded.

"I'm Shijime! What's your name?" The girl clearly had lots of energy.

"Benitsubasa," she replied. She wasn't really in the mood to return Shijime's enthusiasm.

"Wh-what do you think they're gonna do? Why do we have to wait? Why did we have to come all the way here? Who's gonna be looking at us? Wh-"

"H-hey! Slow down!" Benitsubasa's eyes went wide at the barrage of questions spewing forth from Shijime's mouth.

"A-a-are there gonna be more needles?" Shijime's eyes went big and shone with tears that were ready to spill out at any moment.

"I hope not." Benitsubasa could at least agree with her there. She didn't want more needles. She sat down next to Shijime, but soon regretted doing so.

"S-so there could be?" Shijime took the opportunity to cling to Benitsubasa. Her grip was painfully tight.

"H-how should I know?" She needed to distract her. "Um, why don't we talk about something else?"

"Like?" Shijime blinked, forcing out a tear.

"Uh, err, wh-who's your tuner?" That was something they had to have in common.

"N-Nakamura-san!" Shijime said. "He's weird, but he's funny. "

"What do you mean?" Benitsubasa asked.

"He's always talking about... stuff. And he writes a lot. He keeps reading to me, but it's always s boring poetry," Shijime told her.

"I... thought you said he was funny."

"Yeah! He talks a lot and I don't understand, but it sounds funny so I laugh." Shijime nodded. "Then he says I shouldn't laugh so I laugh more!"

"I, uh, OK."

"Yeah, he keeps telling me all kinds of things, but I don't get it at all. He says it's, err, 'of vital importance' or something like that. What's that mean?" Shijime blinked.

"It means it's important." Benitsubasa said blankly.

"Then why didn't he say that? Silly!" Shijime laughed.

"H-he did." Who _was_ this girl? She was so simple-minded! Could people really be that stupid? Well, she looked young, so Benitsubasa decided she wouldn't be too harsh. "Vital just means something is extra important... I think." Benitsubasa wasn't exactly a scholar either, especially at only ten years old, but at least she knew what the idea behind the word was.

"Oh, cool! Thanks Beni-ko!" Shijime suddenly hugged her with vice-like strength.

"Huh?" Benitsubasa went rigged. It was less the intensity of the hug, and more the excessive cuddliness of this girl that got to her. She could probably hug just as hard if she wanted to. She just didn't want to.

"What's wrong? You're my first sekirei friend! The other girl who already went in wouldn't even talk to me!" Shijime grinned widely.

"Oh." Benitsubasa wasn't sure how else to respond. If she were to agree, then she would be able to say the same thing. She'd never spent much time with another sekirei before. She'd only seen them in passing when she was very young. It wasn't like Shijime could replace Ayumi though. When would she even see her again, next year? So what if they became friends, what would the point be?

"Benitsubasa?" A female voice spoke. Benitsubasa looked up to see a woman in a lab coat, whom she did not recognize, standing in a doorway. It seemed it was her turn.

"Uh, um, good luck!" Shijime spoke up nervously.

**. . .**

It turned out all her fears were for naught. Needles weren't even involved. She had to take her clothes off, and they stuck electrodes to her, but that was nothing. The big machines and their incessant humming didn't bother her anymore either. It was more than Satoru had, but she knew now that they didn't hurt. After about thirty minutes of tests, she was allowed to tear the electrodes off and put her clothes back on. No one said too much, so she hoped that was a good sign. If there had been bad news, she hoped she'd have been able to see it on their faces.

"OK, you can leave through that door. You'll be taken back to your tuner," one of the scientists spoke to her. Benitsubasa almost nodded, but then she had a thought. Shijime was scared, shouldn't she tell her that it wasn't anything to worry about? She wished someone had told her what to expect.

"Can't I leave the way I came in?" Benitsubasa asked.

"Well, yes, but they're expecting-"

"Then I'll go back that way instead!" Benitsubasa said, tying her top shut and turning around to walk out the door.

"Wait!" The female scientist jogged after her, but Benitsubasa was already pushing the door open.

"Beni-ko!" Shijime's face brightened, but only momentarily. "H-how scary is it?"

"It's nothing!" Benitsubasa grinned and gave a thumbs-up. "Not a single needle!"

"Yes yes, now can you please follow me?" The scientist sighed in exasperation.

"Oh, right, OK." Benitsubasa nodded.

"Bye Beni-ko!" Shijime waved. Benitsubasa waved back as she followed the scientist. Her work was done there.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa felt a little better for the next day or so, but soon routine took over. Draw with crayons, watch TV, get stuck by needles, repeat. Then, the next Monday, something new happened. The phone rang. The phone upstairs almost never rang. She'd almost forgotten they even _had_ a land-line upstairs.

She tilted her head with interest as Satoru picked it up. He said a few words and then nodded, before pulling it away and covering the receiver with his hand.

"Well, Beni-chan, you've been good this last week, so I have a surprise for you. Here," he held out the phone to her. Now she was really curious. She took the phone hesitantly and held it up to her ear.

"H-hello?" she spoke slowly.

"Beni-chan! It's me!" An excited voice answered. The phone changed what she sounded like, but it only took a second for Benitsubasa to recognize it.

"Ayumi-san!" Benitsubasa's eyes nearly exploded out of her head as they shot wide open.

"Miss me?"

"Yes!" Benitsubasa nearly shouted. Suddenly her throat felt tight and her eyes began to glisten.

"I knew it! Wh- hey, are you crying? Come on! It hasn't been _that_ long!" Ayumi's concerned voice came from the phone.

"I-I thought he made you leave forever!" Benitsubasa sniffled.

"Well even if he'd tried to I probably would have sneaked back anyway!" Ayumi laughed. "What do you want to do? I'm gonna head over to you now."

"Anything!"

"Haha, all right, but no complaining if you don't like what I pick when I get there!"

"Yeah, I promise!"

"Good, I'll be there soon!"

Benitsubasa tasted tears, but she couldn't shut her mouth. Even as she cried, her grin just wouldn't go away. Her friend was back.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa was laughing uncontrollably. She couldn't help it, it tickled too much.

"OK, OK! Stop it, Taku-chan!" Ayumi pulled the small dog off of Benitsubasa. They had been meeting nearly every week, and this time Ayumi had brought Benitsubasa to a park so they could play with her new dog, Takumi. "It's my turn!"

"Wh- no!" Benitsubasa soon became assaulted by Ayumi tickling her. Of course this excited Takumi into jumping into the fray once more. "I-I can't breathe!" In her struggling, she accidentally pushed Ayumi a little too hard, throwing the girl clean off of her.

"Whoa!" Ayumi's eyes went wide, caught off guard by the younger girl's strength. "Oh no!" Perhaps to Benitsubasa's fortune, Takumi quickly pounced upon the fallen girl, distracting her from Benitsubasa's Herculean display. "Down, Taku, down!" Ayumi ordered frantically as the dog licked her face.

"That's what you get!" Benitsubasa grinned maliciously, enjoying seeing the tables turned.

"All right..." Ayumi panted as she finally pried Takumi off of her. "That's enough of that."

"Is he really all yours?" Benitsubasa asked.

"Well, it's not like I bought him, but my parents are letting me take care of him, so I guess technically he would be mine, yeah!" Ayumi smiled. "He's just so hyper though! I'm lucky I'm in the sports club at my school."

"Oh yeah, did you win your last race?" Benitsubasa asked. Ayumi was a runner in one of her school's clubs it turned out.

"Yep! First time, no one saw it coming! I can't decide if this will make me more popular or if they'll all just hate me now!" she chuckled. "Personally I just hope they all forget about it by the end of the week."

"But what if you win again?" Benitsubasa tilted her head.

"Then I _really_ have to worry! They'll have expectations of me!"

"Maybe we could race some time!" Benitsubasa suggested. She wondered if Ayumi could keep up. Satoru said that even without practice, Benitsubasa could outrun almost anyone in the world. Maybe Ayumi was fast enough to at least try though.

"Sure, but not today. Taku-chan would get too excited and chase us." Ayumi patted the small, shiba inu puppy. "Hey, you always complain about how you have to live right? I still don't get it, but surely you could get a pet too! I mean, he can't be_ that _strict, right?"

"M-maybe." Benitsubasa knelt down, patting Takumi as well. Her eyes glazed over, deep in thought. Maybe, just maybe, she could have a pet? Then she'd never be lonely again.

**. . .**

"Huh? A pet? What's that?" Shijime tilted her head. They were waiting once more. Benitsubasa was now 11 years old, and so not long after her birthday, her next examination came.

"Well, you know what an _animal_ is, right?" Surely Shijime at least knew what that word meant.

"Duh! It's something fluffy! Or with feathers. O-or scaly, or, hic, sl-slimy... or w-with too many legs..." Suddenly Shijime curled up into a ball and put her head in Benitsubasa's lap. Had she seriously just scared herself that badly?

"Uh, r-right." Benitsubasa averted her eyes. It was too pathetic to watch. "Well, anyway, a pet is an animal that lives with you. Like a dog."

"Ohh!" Shijime shot back up again. "A fluffy animal that you can keep?" The girl seemed excited by the notion.

"Yeah!" Benitsubasa smiled. "My friend Ayumi has a dog named Taku-chan!"

"Wow! I wish I had a friend with a pet!" Shijime's eyes shone. "I'm jealous."

"So your tuner doesn't let you do things like that?" Benitsubasa frowned. She'd been hoping that maybe Shijime would have had better luck, but she hadn't even known what pets were. It must have never come up. For some reason, Satoru was opposed to the idea of a pet.

Soon it was her turn again, and once again she left the room the wrong way to assure Shijime there were still no needles. There was always the chance that they'd bring out the needles one day, so she'd make sure Shijime knew what she was getting into. She was 105 and Shijime was 106, so Benitsubasa would always know before Shijime. It was the least she could do.

**. . .**

Another month passed, and still her begging amounted to nothing. Satoru told her that a pet was a bad idea, and that it probably wouldn't end well. She was getting frustrated, but there was nothing she could do. If she struggled or rebelled too much, then Satoru would just retaliate with more restrictions. She was glad to have what freedom she had.

And then one day, things changed. A frantic knock came from her door, and she ran over to open it, and found Ayumi standing there, drenched from rain. Her shirt had gone see-through, as she wasn't wearing a jacket even in the chill, Autumn air. Instead, her jacket was in her arms, wrapped around something.

"Oh thank god you were right there, I'm freezing!" Ayumi shivered and dashed inside. "I-I hope he doesn't get mad, but I couldn't think of where else to go!"

"What is it?" Benitsubasa asked.

"This!" Ayumi suddenly smiled, and began unwrapping her jacket. A small, furry head poked out. It was also wet from the rain, but not as wet as Ayumi thanks to her jacket.

"A kitten!" Benitsubasa's eyes went wide.

"Yeah. Some guy was sitting in front of his house with a box, giving them away. This was the last one. Thing is though, no one took it, and then he just got sick of waiting and left it there. He didn't even come back for it when it started raining!" Ayumi raised her voice in outrage.

"What? Jerk!" Benitsubasa fumed. How could someone be so cruel?

"Right?" Ayumi nodded in agreement. "I couldn't take him home cause I'm afraid Taku-chan would eat him, so... well I knew you wanted a pet. Maybe once Satoru sees him he won't be able to say no!" She winked.

"All right, what's going on? The alarm went off." Satoru came up the stairs from the basement lab. He'd disabled the lock that prevented Benitsubasa from opening the door even from inside, a sign of trust he said, but it still had an alarm on it that alerted him whenever it was opened. "Ah... Ayumi. You didn't call..."

"S-sorry..." Ayumi lowered her head.

"And what is this?" Satoru frowned. "Is this your way of going behind my back?" He turned to Benitsubasa.

"No!" Ayumi spoke up immediately. "It was all my idea. I-I didn't even plan on it, I just found it on the side of the road in a box. My dog might have hurt it, s-so... well, I mean it was raining, so I couldn't just leave it!"

"I see. Well, if it's tame enough to carry, I'm sure you can get it to a shelter. I can find you an umbrel-"

"It likes me!" Benitsubasa giggled as the kitten licked and nipped at her finger, mewling as it did so.

"Oh god..." Satoru sighed, shoulders slumping.

And that was how Benitsubasa got her cat.

**. . .**

"Ow! Hey! Watch it!" Satoru complained, hand over his mouth.

"You need to stop now!" Benitsubasa went tot he kitchen and threw the smoldering cigarette she'd stolen from Satoru into the sink. "It's not good for Takeru-chan!"

"That damn cat is half the reason I'm smoking! It keeps me up at night! If I stop I'll go insane!" Satoru groaned.

"It's not good for you either!" Benitsubasa put her tiny hands on her slender hips. Somehow the diminutive girl still managed to be intimidating.

"W-well, technically that's not entirely true. They're helping me lose weight..." Satoru told her in a tone of voice that told her even he knew he was just making excuses.

"You can lose weight without smoking!" Benitsubasa pointed at him. "I'll be watching! No more!"

"Oi..." Satoru's face fell into his hand. "Can you at least _please _keep it quiet at night?"

"His name is Takeru!"

"Whatever, just keep him quiet!"

"Say it!"

"Takeru! Happy?"

"Are you going to quit smoking?"

". . ."

**. . .**

"What do you think of my new uniform?" Ayumi spun around. "I'm a high school girl now!"

"It's a lot darker." Benitsubasa looked her over.

"Yeah, it's a change from the old sailor style for sure." Ayumi nodded. "And the boys... there's so many cute boys at my new school! I-I think I might introduce you to one soon if you know what I mean."

"What?"

"I'm saying I'm going to bring one with me one of these days if I get lucky!"

"Why?" Benitsubasa still didn't get it.

"You know, like a boyfriend! I want a date!" Ayumi struck a pose. "All that running was good for something, they'll never be able to resist my body!"

"Your... body?" Benitsubasa blinked, eyes wide in confusion.

"Maybe... you're still a little young, I-I'll explain some other time." Ayumi blushed, suddenly looking embarrassed. "Some day you'll be ready for romance!"

**. . .**

"Ooh! Romance? Shijime knows lots about romance!" Shijime's eyes went wide. "Lots of Nakamura-san's poems are about romance!"

"R-really?" Benitsubasa leaned closer. Was she in luck? Her third examination hadn't been long after Ayumi began talking about boys. Maybe Shijime actually had answers. However, her hopes were dashed as Shijime launched into a long tirade using lots of big words that she was pretty sure even Shijime herself didn't understand. Something about the moon, roses, oases, and a woman's eyes. She didn't get it at all.

At least there were still no needles to worry about.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa stood outside Satoru's house, leaning on their fence, looking at the teenager before her. She wasn't sure what she thought of him, but Ayumi had brought him so she was going to give him a chance. He had unruly, black hair and brown eyes. He seemed to be somewhat athletic, but his outfit with long sleeves made it hard to tell. Right now, he just looked bored and impatient.

"This is Ryota! He's my boyfriend! Ryota, this is Benitsubasa, she's my friend!" Ayumi said.

"Eh? You were serious? You're friends with this little kid?" Ryota bent over a little to look at Benitsubasa. She really didn't like the look he was giving her.

"Aww, don't be that way! Benitsubasa's cool!" Ayumi grinned.

"Your parents really let you get away with hair dye and contacts at your age? What kind of kid are you?" Ryota raised an eyebrow. "You're kinda weird."

"Y-you... what do you know?" Benitsubasa frowned. "A-and I'm twelve! I'm not that little!"

"H-hey!" Ayumi interjected. "Benitsubasa, want to go to the arcade again?"

"Yea-!" Benitsubasa immediately went to agree, however...

"Wow, the arcade huh? It's been a while since I've been to an arcade. Sure, sounds great!" Ryota spoke up.

"Then let's go!" Ayumi smiled. They turned to head off, and Benitsubasa simply stood there for a moment. Had she actually been a part of that decision?

**. . .**

The arcade quickly lost its luster. More and more she realized that it wasn't as fun as last time. Ayumi wasn't teasing her as much when they played games, and it was pathetically easy to beat Ayumi at almost everything. She was too distracted by Ryota. Even when she was supposed to be playing with Benitsubasa, she was talking to Ryota instead of focusing on the game. Then when Ayumi was playing with Ryota, Benitsubasa might as well have not existed.

At one point Benitsubasa went ahead and hugged Ayumi, hoping to snap her out of whatever trance she was in. Ayumi hugged her back, but only to then look over her shoulder and resume talking to Ryota. At that point she'd been ready to go home, but had to suffer through another fifteen minutes in the arcade with the two. She'd never wanted to be away from Ayumi before. She didn't understand what was happening.

**. . .**

"How is that not uncomfortable?" Satoru paused, looking down at Benitsubasa. She was currently laying on her stomach, watching TV, with her cat curled up on her back. It was cute, but Satoru had to imagine her neck was killing her. She was always there though, watching TV, Takeru on her back, or sometimes her stomach, and she never complained or tried to reposition herself. Satoru had offered to get her a chair to sit in so Takeru could sit in her lap, but Benitsubasa had just shrugged and said she didn't really need it.

She and the cat were nearly inseparable though. In some way or another, the cat was always with her when she was home, which was of course nearly every minute of every day of every week. Curled up upon her when she watched television, wrapped around her feet when she ate, and next to her in bed when she slept.

It wasn't surprising really. Aside from Satoru, Benitsubasa had no one else when she was home. Takeru was the only other living being she could interact with. With things like that, it hadn't taken long for Takeru to grow used to Benitsubasa's affection and even return it.

Takeru had also grown up since Benitsubasa had been given him. He was becoming a tall, sleek feline, gray, almost silver really, in color with large green eyes and a narrow face, with long, pointed ears. At a little over a year old, he was nearly full grown now.

"Takeru-chan is warm!" Benitsubasa told him. "Of course it's comfortable!"

"Right," Satoru responded. Well, as long as she was happy. Ayumi had used to be her greatest source of happiness, but things had been changing. Ayumi was so distracted by the boy she'd gotten involved with, Ryota. Benitsubasa was feeling left out. If Takeru could keep her happy, that was a good thing. _"Stupid teenagers..."_ He shook his head.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa was back in the park with Ayumi and her dog, Takumi. They'd stopped to rest on a park bench. Ayumi was talking about Ryota. Again. It had been a while since Benitsubasa had been able to get Ayumi alone. Between Ryota and Ayumi's schoolwork, time was scarce.

"C-can we talk about something else?" Benitsubasa was nervous being so direct, but she couldn't stand it anymore.

"Oh, sorry, you must be sick of hearing about him by now. You barely even know him yourself." Ayumi tittered giddily. Benitsubasa hated how her face lit up just on the topic of Ryota. Benitsubasa couldn't stand the boy herself, and yet she'd never seen Ayumi so happy. She didn't want her to be that happy about someone else! Ayumi was _her _friend! Ryota was just in the way!

"I don't want to know him," Benitsubasa grumbled to herself.

"Huh?" Ayumi tilted her head. Benitsubasa bit her lip, that had been careless.

"N-nothing, just thinking about something else, sorry." Benitsubasa scratched her arm anxiously, wanting a change of topic_._

"Oh yeah, how's little Takeru? He looks like he's gotten bigger again!"

"Y-yeah!" Benitsubasa smiled. "He's not exactly little anymore."

"I guess it's good I decided to give him to you. You're taking good care of him!" Ayumi said. "It would have been bad if I'd kept him, it turns out Ryota doesn't like cats. He's a dog person, so he likes Takumi!"

Benitsubasa frowned. Ryota again. It had been less than thirty seconds.

Benitsubasa then noticed Takumi perk up, and then a second later Ayumi shrieked and jumped in fear as hands came down on her shoulders. Benitsubasa felt a surge of adrenaline, she felt ready to outright murder whoever dared attack Ayumi, but she managed to reign herself in. She turned her head and almost regretted not attacking the person. It was Ryota. Still, she wondered what that had been. She'd never felt such an impulse before. She'd been ready to attack him, and she knew what she was capable of. Satoru had always told her that she was strong, but he'd never really told her why. There had been lots of hints, but nothing specific.

"R-R-Ryota-kun! What are you doing here?" Ayumi asked, turning her head to look at him.

"Surprised to see me, Ayumi-chan?" Ryota swung around to stand in front of her and pulled her to her feet, immediately kissing her. Benitsubasa had to look away. She really hated him right now.

"H-how-?" Ayumi questioned him.

"Did I know where to find you? Well, I went by your house and both you and Takumi were gone, so I figured this is where you'd take him," Ryota explained. Ayumi blushed and giggled.

"Oh Ryota-kun, you know me so well!"

Benitsubasa was going to be sick. She wanted to run away.

"Oh, but, I'm here with Benitsubasa-chan today," Ayumi said. When Benitsubasa heard that she perked up. Was she possibly going to be chosen over Ryota?

"Aww, but I had a plan for you!" Ryota told her.

"Oh, uhh." But now Ayumi looked torn. Shouldn't it be an easy choice? Benitsubasa had been her friend first!

"I-it's fine, I don't mind," Benitsubasa found herself saying that. She didn't want to, but somehow she couldn't bring herself to speak her mind. Wouldn't that just make Ayumi hate her if she did?

"Thank you!" Ayumi smiled at Benitsubasa. "Hey, we'll do something extra fun next time, OK? Promise!"

"OK." Benitsubasa nodded. "I'll be waiting!"

Ayumi nodded and walked off with Ryota and Benitsubasa's heart sank. She hadn't been chosen. She looked down and saw that she's been gripping the park bench's arm. She pulled her hand away revealing crushed and twisted metal beneath it.

**. . .**

"Ah, Benitsubasa-chan! Did you have fun with Ayumi?" Satoru smiled. His smile quickly faded when he caught sight of Benitsubasa's expression. "Hm? What's wrong? Actually, where's Ayumi, she always walks you home. I don't like you walking around alone."

"Satoru-san..." Benitsubasa said. This put him on edge, she almost never said his name like that. "Why do I exist?"

"Wh-what?" Satoru's heart leapt into his throat. What was with this question? "Why are you suddenly asking something like that? What happened?"

"Why am I so strong? Why am I called an 'asset?' What does MBI want with me?" Benitsubasa asked, voice quiet.

"Well, those are some big questions. They aren't easy to answer-"

"Tell me!"

"Well, it's comp-"

"_**TELL ME!" **_Benitsubasa's voice shook the walls, nearly sundering his ears. Takeru could be heard scrabbling across the hardwood floor in fear of Benitsubasa's outburst. "You tell me to be careful because I'm so strong compared to people! I could hurt people! Why am I like this?"

"I don't know." Satoru sighed, voice serious.

"Don't l-"

"I said I don't know!" Satoru raised his voice. "In all honestly, I can't tell you what you are. You're a sekirei, but quite frankly, I don't know what that means either. You're not human, that's all I can tell you about that. As for MBI... I'm afraid I do know about that."

"Th-then hurry and tell me!"

"I've been putting this off as long as possible. Honestly I should have told you years ago, but you seemed content with the way things were." Satoru shook his head. "You're right, you can hurt people. You're meant to. MBI wants you to take that strength and fight other sekirei."

"H-huh?" Benitsubasa took a step back.

"Sekirei are meant to fight, that much is clear. Why, I don't know, but MBI wants to facilitate that. My job as a tuner is to temper your strength so that these battles will be easier to contain within the city. I'll do my best to tell you as much as I can..."

**. . .**

Benitsubasa sat in front of her house. It was a weekend, and it had been two weeks. Nothing from Ayumi. Surely she'd have found time to visit by now. She always came on weekends these days, so where was she? She knew she would call first, so waiting outside was pointless, but somehow...

It was boring outside without Ayumi, as she wasn't allowed to go places on her own. At least she had Takeru with her. Even outside he was well behaved, happily curled up in her arms.

She wanted Ayumi back though. She was scared. What Satoru had told her, battling other sekirei until only one was left, terminating each other. Finding an ashikabi. Someday she'd have to find an ashikabi, but who? Somehow though, the more she thought about it, the less scared she got. It was like it made sense to her, like she'd already known it all deep down.

"Takeru-chan, what am I doing wrong?" Benitsubasa mumbled softly to her cat. Her only response was Takeru's steady purring. Of course he couldn't give her any answers, but he was so calm, it helped her keep calm. She nuzzled her face against his fur, holding him tight to her chest. He was so warm, and he was always there whenever she needed him. Not like Ayumi. But Ayumi could talk back. And yet what could she really talk to Ayumi about? There were too many secrets. Everything was so hard. Maybe one day when she had her ashikabi things would change...

_'HOOOOOOOOONK!'_ A loud truck horn startled her. The next few seconds were a blur. With her face in Takeru's fur, she hadn't seen what was going on around her. She looked up in time to see a car and a box truck narrowly avoid a collision. At the same time she heard a loud screech from Takeru, and then felt his claws gouge into her arms. She quickly let go, realizing she'd nearly crushed him in her surprise. Between her and the loud noise, Takeru jumped away in fear, and shot off behind the house.

"No! Takeru-chan! Come back!" Benitsubasa jumped up and chased after him. "Where are you going?" She called after him, but she couldn't find him anywhere. She heard a light thud, and realized he'd jumped the fence the was behind the house. She wasn't supposed to go out alone, but what if he never came back?

She jumped the fence in a heartbeat. She caught a glimpse of his silver fur streaking down an alleyway and immediately ran after him. She chased him across two streets, constantly terrified that a car would hit Takeru before she could get to him. He was so fast, she worried that she'd never catch up to him. But wasn't she supposed to be fast too?

With a burst of speed, she managed to close the gap, but he just kept running. Why wasn't he coming back to her? Was he scared of her? Had she hurt him? Was it because she was chasing him that he kept running? But if she stopped, would he ever come back on his own? What if something else hurt him.

"Takeru-chan, I'm sorry!" She wailed, heart clenching. Why now? Why did Takeru have to leave too? She needed him back! But he was agile. For all her speed, she couldn't match his ability to get around obstacles, he was so small and flexible. Before much longer, she lost sight of him.

"T-Takeru-chan, where did you go?" She sniffled, vision blurry from the tears that were collecting. She wandered around, trying her best to guess which direction Takeru would have gone in, but it seemed hopeless.

After a few minutes of fruitless searching, she began to hear noises. They sounded like laughing, so she planned to ignore it, but then she heard the yowl of a cat. Could it be her cat? She dashed off in the direction of the sounds she heard. But why would she be hearing laughter? It didn't matter, she decided, as long as she found Takeru!

She found herself in a wider alleyway, and in it were four young teens, three boys and a girl. The girl was standing back, while the boys were grabbing bits of rubble and rocks and throwing them at something. She looked and saw a trembling, gray form huddled against a wall behind a cardboard box, being pelted by their rocks.

Takeru.

"NO! STOP!" Benitsubasa screamed and ran at the boy closest to her.

"Huh? Who are you? Go away, girly!" The boy shoved her away when she got close. She stumbled back and watched in horror as the next stone they threw hit home. Takeru yowled loudly as a chunk of brick flew into his leg.

"_**I SAID STOP!" **_Benitsubasa ran forward again and grabbed the arm of the boy before he could throw anything else. He tried to pull away, but Benitsubasa's hand didn't budge. His eyes went wide and he desperately tried to pull away. Benitsubasa let go and watched as he stumbled and fell over in surprise.

She then ignored them and ran to Takeru, whose body shook fiercely from terror and pain. His ears were pinned back and his eyes wide-open. She tried to pick him up, but he struggled and hissed. She felt a rock bounce off of her head and froze. She couldn't comprehend it. Even with her there, they still threw rocks? Why were they so horrible. Takeru howled loudly and clawed at her, and in a flurry of fur and claws leapt away once more, turning a corner and running out of sight.

They'd hurt him, they'd made him run away again. They'd even tried to hurt her. Why? _Why? **WHY?**_

"_**YOU HURT TAKERU-CHAN!"**_ Benitsubasa turned around, screaming furiously. Her tiny voice somehow gaining enough volume to reverberate off the walls and make the teens wince.

"Who cares? It's just a dumb cat? Was it yours? It was kinda ugly, you're better off now! Cats are useless, get a dog!" One teen told her callously, rubbing his ear. "Damn, she scared it off, lets find something else to do." As they turned away, one of the teens threw another chunk of concrete that was still in his hand back towards her. It narrowly missed, bouncing off the wall.

"T-Takeru-chan... wasn't... USELESS!" She grabbed the piece of concrete and threw it back, nailing one in the shoulder. He cried out and stumbled, nearly losing his footing.

"What the hell?" The one who'd been running his mouth turned around in time for her to run full tilt into him, shoving her fist directly into his face, rocketing him off his feet. When he landed he curled up into a ball of writhing agony.

"Stop it!" Another of the boys grabbed her. She spun around and grabbed his hand in a vice grip. She felt a finger snap, but didn't relent as the boy cried out. She twisted his arm until his knees trembled.

"Why? Why didn't _you_ stop? I TOLD _YOU_ TO STOP!" She kicked him away and watched him skid across the alley into a pile of trash bags. She was panting, but not from exhaustion. It was that same feeling from before. Adrenaline, her heart was racing, her body was tense. Everything was rushing around her, but yet clear. She was aware of everything. She saw the last boy who she'd hit with a rock grab a pipe off the ground and bare it at her. His hands shook though.

He swung at her as she walked towards him, but she caught the pipe and crushed it within her grip. The teen at first tried to pull it out of her grasp, but upon seeing that was useless he tried to run, but she grabbed him next. She tossed him aside, only to bounce off the side of a dumpster and then lay still.

"Y-you're hurting them!" The girl from the group shouted. Benitsubasa looked at her and saw her slap her hands over her mouth, clearly regretting drawing attention to herself. She tried to run, but Benitsubasa caught her within seconds, grabbing her hair.

"Why do you care about them? They hurt Takeru! They're worthless! Why should I care if they get hurt?" Benitsubasa shouted. The girl wasn't listening, just sobbing weakly. "You're useless too!" Benitsubasa backhanded her off her feet. She tried to crawl away, but Benitsubasa kicked her in the ribs, leaving her to sob and moan helplessly.

She wanted to hit her again. She wanted to pummel all of them until... until what? They couldn't move? Until they were... terminated? No, they weren't sekirei. For them, wouldn't they just die? But why should she care? They were horrible, they'd hurt Takeru and laughed. They only cared for themselves. Why shouldn't she just hurt them? Why shouldn't she only care for _her_self and punish them for their crimes against her? She wasn't one of them, she wasn't even human. She _should_ kill them.

She could feel it in her, she had the ability to. She could literally just step on them and they'd die. She lifted her foot up over the girls head, glaring down coldly at the girl as tears streamed down her face.

She didn't care about this girl. Her foot crashed down.

She stepped away from the girl and took one last glance in the direction Takeru had run in. Would she ever see him again? She could hear people coming, she didn't have any more time.

"I'm sorry Takeru-chan... it's my fault..." she hiccuped. She ran.

**. . .**

She couldn't run. She wasn't tired, but her body felt weak and limp. She'd ended up running so far, it was a long trudge home with her eyes red from crying. Finally she made it back and walked in only to find Satoru waiting for her, looking displeased.

"Where have you been?" he asked impatiently, but she didn't answer. "Did you think I wouldn't know what you've been up to? MBI is always watching! What you did could get us _both_ in a lot of trouble! I've clearly been too lenient!" But still she didn't say anything. "Four teenagers found, brutalized."

"I could have killed them," Benitsubasa muttered.

"What... did you just say?" Satoru looked stunned.

"Th-they hurt Takeru!" Benitsubasa sobbed. "H-he ran away!"

"Tell me what happened." Satoru sighed and leaned back in his chair. Benitsubasa sniffled a few time, but finally managed to speak and say what had happened.

"Dammit, do kids these days have nothing better to do?" Satoru rubbed his temples tiredly. "Fine, I understand, but you still went too far!" He groaned loudly. "Fortunately, I doubt we'll have too much trouble. They probably won't want to say they were beaten up by a little girl, and if they do talk, no one will believe them. MBI should be able to cover up the rest."

"So we won't be in trouble?" Benitsubasa asked.

"No, we will be. They'll be mad that I let you get into trouble. You'll probably be fine for the most part. Hopefully they'll go easy on me since we've never caused problems before, but this is a big problem... so who knows."

"A-are you... mad at me?" Benitsubasa whimpered. Satoru was all she had now. Was she about to lose him too?

"No. I feel like I should be, but I'm just glad you're OK. Being angry with you won't solve anything. You didn't kill anyone, and I doubt you'll be making this kind of mistake again." Satoru shrugged wearily. It was true, in the end she'd been unable to do it. The girl would have an aching jaw for a while, but her skull was still intact. Benitsubasa had felt nothing but rage, but something in the back of her head had nagged at her and she'd been unable to do anything worse.

"I'm sorry. I keep messing up."

Satoru got up and walked over to her, placing a hand on her head.

"Beni, this life you've had to lead, it's been hard, and that's not going to change. It's not all your fault. It'll be OK though. No matter how hard it gets, I promise you, you'll never be alone. You'll always have someone to help you though." Satoru pulled her into an embrace. _"Please, when she's gone from here... let her end up with someone good!"_

**. . .**

Everything seemed to be going backwards suddenly. More weeks had passed with no sign of Ayumi, and all she had when Satoru was busy was her stuffed rabbit. She felt cold all the time now with Takeru gone. She missed his warmth. She'd had him for nearly two years, and he'd become part of her everyday life.

She couldn't stand it. She'd even convinced Satoru to let her try calling Ayumi, but she'd gotten no response. She needed something, something to make her life less... empty. It wasn't getting better anytime soon unfortunately.

"Beni, I have something to tell you. Your birthday's coming, which means your next check-in with MBI is soon as well. There's something you need to know. I"m not sure I'm supposed to tell you, but I'm going to anyway." Satoru adjusted his glasses. "This will be your last one."

"M-my last?" Benitsubasa was confused.

"Yes, as in you won't be going to the tower anymore after this," he explained. "Since they've found nothing wrong so far, there's no need for routine examinations at this stage."

"B-but that means..." Benitsubasa's eyes went wide. She wouldn't be seeing Shijime anymore. So much for birthdays.

**. . .**

"Hey! Heeee~eeeeey! Beni-ko! Are you listening?" Shijime grabbed her ear and pulled. "BENI!" she shouted directly into her ear.

"Ow!" Benitsubasa swatted Shijime's hand. "Err, s-sorry. I'm just... distracted I guess."

"Did you hear anything I said? You're the one who was talking about ashikabi's in the first place!" Shijime frowned.

"Y-yeah, some of it. The important stuff anyway, I think." Benitsubasa shrugged. "Shijime, I need to tell you something."

"Th-they're using needles now?" Shijime shrank back.

"No!" Benitsubasa flicked her forehead. "Pay attention!"

"Sorry, Shijime is listening!"

"This is it."

"N-NEEDLES?"

"I SAID NO!" Benitsubasa punched herself in the forehead. _"Stay calm... stay calm..."_ Shijime was still as obnoxious as always. "We're not seeing each other again after this!" she yelled. She'd been hoping to announce it more delicately, but Shijime had worn down her patience.

"Wh-why? Did I do something wrong?" Shijime pouted. "I'm sorry Beni-ko!"

"It's not you. Or me. It's MBI. They don't want us to come in for these check-ups anymore. I guess it's not needed at this point or something," Benitsubasa told her.

"B-but you're my friend! How am I supposed to see you now?" Shijime immediately began crying.

"Stop crying, it's lame!" Benitsubasa groaned. "L-look, I know we talked a lot, but it's not that big of a deal, is it? How can we be friends after how little we've seen each other?"

"B-but that other girl always goes in before us, I don't' get to talk to her. You're my only sekirei friend! What'll I do now? I don't have any other friends!" Shijime sobbed.

"I-I'm sorry..." Benitsubasa muttered. She guessed she could understand what she was feeling. _"Ayumi... it's the same with me and her. But MBI's forcing me and Shijime apart. Why won't Ayumi come back?"_

"Benitsubasa!" The same female scientist as always was there to call her into the check-up room. This was it.

"NO!" Shijime flung herself at Benitsubasa, hugging her tightly.

"I have to go." Benitsubasa sighed. In reality, there was a part of her that wanted to hug back. But why bother? When would she really see Shijime again? Under what circumstances? It wasn't worth getting attached to her. It was better off this way when she thought about it. She pried Shijime off. "Bye." She quickly turned and walked away.

"I-I'll see you again someday!" Shijime suddenly called after her. "I mean it! I'll find you!"

"D-dammit, Shijime," Benitsubasa whispered to herself. Why did she have to make things worse? Why couldn't it just be fine the way it was?

**. . .**

It was her birthday. She was bored and lonely. Satoru and Ayumi had always made her birthdays fun, but still Ayumi hadn't shown up. Benitsubasa was fine with that though. She didn't need Ayumi. Someday she'd have to leave to find her ashikabi, and she'd have to leave Ayumi behind. In reality, wasn't Ayumi just making things easier.

And yet that feeling of loneliness wouldn't go away. It was of course as these thoughts went through her mind that she heard a knock on the door. There was only one person it could be, she knew it. She didn't want to answer the door. But she had to.

She opened the door to see a nervous Ayumi waving at her.

"H-hey Beni-chan," Ayumi greeted.

"Why are you here?" Benitsubasa asked. It took everything in her to act calm.

"W-well, I felt bad about not visiting in so long. I remembered just in time that it was your birthday so I came right away. There was no way I'd miss that." Ayumi laughed nervously. "I-I mean Ryota tried to stop me, saying he had plans or something like that, but I told him to go away-"

"Is he still all you can talk about?" Benitsubasa glowered.

"N-no... I won't be talking about him much anymore. Wh-when I said I told him to go away... I... I meant permanently. He was keeping me from visiting you, you know?" Ayumi put on a weak smile. So, she'd finally been chosen over Ryota. "I missed you!" Ayumi stepped forward, aiming for a hug, but Benitsubasa grabbed her arms and stopped her, turning her head away.

"Ah, t-too soon. OK." Ayumi shifted her weight nervously. "I, uh, I got you a present!" Ayumi pulled a small, wrapped box out of her coat. "It was sort of last minute, so it's smal-" Benitsubasa reached out and knocked the present out of her hands, sending it flying away. "Wh-wha-?"

"You can go away too." Benitsubasa had been chosen over Ryota, finally. Too late. "I don't want to see you anymore." Her expression was icy. Inside, an equally icy claw was wrapped around her heart. She hated Ayumi. She wanted to keep Ayumi so badly, her best friend, her only friend. But she hated her all the same. It was too late.

"H-huh?" Ayumi stood there, stunned. "B-Beni... I'm sorry... r-really, I-"

"Don't be sorry, just go." Benitsubasa took a step back.

"Bu-"

"GO!" Benitsubasa turned back into the house and slammed the door behind her. She leaned against the door, sliding down to a sitting position. She could feel it, tears welling up. Somehow she forced them back. She couldn't cry. She needed to be strong, that's why she'd gotten rid of Ayumi. There was nothing strong about crying.

She heard a sigh and looked up.

"What did you do?" Satoru looked down at her tiredly.

"I got rid of Ayumi," Benitsubasa told him.

"That's what it sounded like." Satoru shook his head. "Well, that's your decision I suppose." He suddenly handed over a wrapped package. "You aren't gonna get rid of me, right?"

"N-no!" Benitsubasa shook her head and then took the package.

"I guess it's not really 'happy' birthday anymore, but still..." Satoru waited for her to open it.

"Wh-what is it?" Benitsubasa asked. It was a framed picture, a hand drawn one, of a girl.

"That's you. I figured I'd try my hand at drawing again," Satoru said to her.

"Why... am I wearing a crown?" Benitsubasa tilted her head. "And is that a dress?"

"I drew you as a princess. It just popped into my head and I thought I'd try it. I guess I missed the younger, girlier you," Satoru said. "And... I was thinking. You know, in a lot of stories, princesses get rescued by a prince. In some of them though, they aren't necessarily rescued from danger. It's more that they're taken away to a different kind of life. Something better, something that held what they were missing." Satoru looked at her. "You, you don't need to be rescued, you're strong enough that you can save yourself. But... at the same time, one day you're going to find an ashikabi. I just hope that he can give you something more than I can."

Benitsubasa listened to him, staring into the picture. She then put it down and then flung herself at Satoru, embracing him.

"Thank you..." She squeezed him as tightly as she dared. The last detail, perhaps the most important, of the picture was that in it she was smiling. At that time, for just a moment, her face matched the picture's.

**. . .**

**-Present-**

"Umm, is that it?" Madoka asked. Benitsubasa had been quiet for a few minutes. It had been a long story. He felt like he understood what she'd said earlier about him. It didn't change anything, Benitsubasa was still Benitsubasa, but now he knew why she was the way she was sometimes.

"After that I stayed with him for nearly five more years. It was just the two of us, in that tiny house. He did his best to keep me happy. That was when we really got close I think. It was hard though. I got used to... something else, and then it was back to just us," Benitsubasa explained. "You know what happens next." Her expression was nearly blank at this point, like her mind had traveled back to the past where he memories came from.

"And now it's back the other way, right?" Madoka grinned. "Except even better. You're _too_ crowded now." Benitsubasa chuckled.

"I guess."

"I want to apologize. I'm pretty sure I already did, but, after going through that to have to end up dealing with me... I'm sorry. I must have been disappointing. I probably deserved that punch you gave me," Madoka said. Benitsubasa didn't respond, just staring at him. Suddenly she reached out and shoved him, knocking him out of the tree.

"WH-WHAAA-?" Madoka's eyes went wide. What was she doing? If he fell like that, he could die! In fact, he had a feeling he was about to, heading head first into a tangle of roots at the bottom of the tree!

Right before he hit though, something caught him. That something being Benitsubasa. He'd landed safely in her arms.

"Are you trying to kill me?" Madoka shouted, panting heavily.

"No. I'm not really a fan of suicide anyway," Benitsubasa said.

"Err, I think you mean murder." Madoka gulped. Benitsubasa sighed and put him down.

"I guess that's something else I should tell you if you're going to know everything. I left something out. When I was talking with Shijime for the last time, she was telling me what he tuner called the most romantic thing about sekirei."

"The... most romantic?" Madoka cocked an eyebrow. This sounded ominous.

"She told me that he said the most romantic thing about ashikabi and sekirei is their unrelenting need for each other. Their permanent bond that extends unyielding through life... into death." Benitsubasa put a hand over her heart. "So, in short, if you die-"

"Th-then you die too," Madoka finished for her, eyes wide. He realized his hands had tightened into fists. His heart was beating fast, but it wasn't from the fall anymore. Benitsubasa nodded. That meant that if he choked on his food, got just a little too close to another drunk driver, or... just anything; any freak accident could kill him, and then all four of his sekirei would be gone too.

"Hmph, don't get so worked up. I'll be pissed if you kill yourself, but in the end, it's not like any of us will still be around to regret it. If it happens it happens, just don't rush it, OK?" She smirked.

"I-I guess." Madoka nodded. "So, uh, why did you push me out of that tree?"

"You were acting all cocky, it was annoying me!" Benitsubasa scoffed. "And then you made some pointless apology! Seriously annoying!" She then blushed.

"Heh, sorry." Madoka rubbed his neck nervously.

"If you really want to make it up to me, then I want another." Benitsubasa stepped towards him, placing a hand on his chest.

"Another w-" She grabbed his shirt and pulled him down, pressing her lips against his. She held it longer than the last time. When she pulled away and her wings faded, the color red was still present, but upon his cheeks beneath wide eyes. Benitsubasa smiled.

"Hey, I like that face you're making."

"Uh... O-OK..."

"Apology accepted."

**. . .**

When they got home, Benitsubasa was ambushed almost immediately by Sukaime. The girl tackled her, wrapping her arms around Benitsubasa's neck.

"Wah! Where were you? You were gone so long I was afraid you wouldn't be home before bed time!" Sukaime complained.

"S-so what?" Benitsubasa frowned.

"Ah, well without you here I'd get lonely! I do so miss your presence when you're not by my side! I mean, I tried to convince Kaie to let me use her ample chest as a pillow, but she coldly refused me!" Sukaime recounted dramatically.

"That... n-never happened," Kaie commented uncomfortably from nearby.

"Kaie-chan, may I-"

"No."

"You see? Even Oriha refused when I asked her!" Sukaime pouted.

"You never asked." Oriha scowled.

"Oriha-ch-"

"No!"

"That leaves you, Beni dearest, you're the only one who can keep me warm at ni-"

"No." Benitsubasa refused outright.

"C-can we at least cuddle a little?" Sukaime made puppy dog eyes.

". . ."

"Um, put my sleeping bag next to yours?"

"Just don't touch me." Benitsubasa sighed in exasperation.

"Yay!" Sukaime cheered, hugging her tightly.

"What did I just say?"

Madoka had to smile. It had been a long day, but everything was already back to normal.

* * *

><p><strong>Holy crap, 37 pages! And yet I'm somehow worried that it was a little too rushed. It's hard to fit 12 years into one chapter. I hope this was enjoyable, or at least not too painful.<strong>

**Well, I really wanted to write this chapter. It may be a bit slow to start, but I think that it picks up enough towards the end to make up for it.**

**Til' next time!**


	29. I Hate Extortion

**Oh god I'm getting nervous. I'm looking at my list of things left to do in this fic. We're definitely well past half way at this point. And I just give up on apologizing for updating late. More on that in the end note.**

* * *

><p><strong>I Hate Extortion<strong>

"I can't believe it!" Oriha slammed a card onto the table with a little too much force.

"You're not losing that badly yet," Kaie told her.

"Not that!" Oriha was fuming. "Madoka-sama took Benitsubasa out without a second thought! Just like that! Without the rest of us! Without me! Why's she suddenly so special?"

"So? Madoka-kun can do what he wants," Kaie replied. "She's his first isn't she? Maybe to him she is special."

"The order doesn't matter! He's... he's... AGH!" Oriha's head crashed down upon the table. After some time passed, she tilted her head up to look at Kaie. "And you are winning that badly," she grumbled despairingly.

"Sorry."

"I wish I was more like you," Oriha said after a pause. "Even if I was just faking it, I wish I could just be cool. I always end up embarrassing myself because I freak out. Madoka-sama must think I'm an idiot."

"I don't think so. I think he likes that part of you, your energy. Don't you two get along well?" Kaie told her.

"Yeah." Oriha smiled a little. "I guess you're right. I won't let Benitsubasa win!"

**. . .**

It was Monday. Sunday had gone by nice and quietly, but now that things had calmed down for the moment, it was back into the grind of employment. That said, he didn't even make it half way to work before his cellphone went off.

"_Hey, it's Minato, is this a bad time?" _Well, if it wasn't everyone's favorite single-number hoarder.

"Not yet, I'm just on my way to work," Madoka replied. Kaie, who was of course with him, stepped closer to listen in. He decided there was no harm in it.

"_Oh, well I just felt like talking. I was in a match yesterday." _Well there it was. Officially, every single ashikabi he was friendly with had been called on to fight.

"You don't sound too pleased. You did win, right?" Madoka couldn't imagine Minato's veritable dream team of sekirei being defeated.

"_I guess..." _As expected, so what was his problem. _"It could have gone better."_

"Did everyone make it back?" Madoka had a sinking feeling.

"_. . ."_

"Minato?"

"_No."_

"Who?" Madoka stopped walking.

"_I don't think you two ever really met. Kagari, the last sekirei I winged. They set us up against the disciplinary squad! It wasn't fair! It was that one who showed up last at the bridge, I-I think they called him Heiwamori."_ Minato's voice shook. Madoka was confused. Did this mean that they'd destroyed the disciplinary squad? He didn't understand.

"Wait, so how did you win?" Madoka didn't want to sound cold, but he needed a few things straightened out.

"_They left. Got called away for... something, I don't know."_

"I'm sorry."

"_That's not all though," _Minato didn't sound like he was getting any happier. What else could have possibly happened?

"OK. Go on..." Madoka swallowed. He could feel the tension in Minato even over the phone. It was making him nervous.

"_Remember Uzume? Well... she attacked us as we were leaving. It turns out she's the one we talked about, the one who ambushed your friends."_

"What?" Madoka was about ready to just throw his phone down a sewer grate. He didn't want to be hearing all this in the morning before work.

"_It gets a little better... but worse too I guess," _Minato continued, sounding tired. _"She's being used. She's not betraying us on her own. It's another ashikabi, Higa. He's holding her ashikabi hostage. She's sick and he's using her treatment as leverage."_ Madoka grit his teeth. That actually made sense as much as he hated it. His impression of Higa made the revelation ultimately unsurprising, and he knew Higa had a pharmaceutical company. _"Uzume's a friend though, so we have a plan. I guess I just needed someone else to talk to. It's been a hard couple of days. I haven't really had a chance to let it all out."_

"I understand," Madoka said. He then took a deep breath. "Now tell me this plan. I want in."

"_Wh-what?"_

"I've met Higa. I don't like him. I met Uzume too, she seems like a nice girl, so I want to help her." Madoka's expression hardened. "I've seen enough of this Sekirei Plan and what it drives people to do, and I'm fed up with it. Now tell me your plan."

"_Yeah... all right. Thanks Madoka-san."_

According to Minato, the plan was fairly simple. One team of his sekirei would go to retrieve Uzume's ashikabi, and another would sit back and defend Izumo. Apparently they expected Uzume to attempt to steal Minato's jinki directly.

"OK, you stick to that plan. I'll see what I can come up with to make it go more smoothly. I'll call you back later," Madoka told him.

"_Thanks again. I'll be waiting."_ With that their call ended.

"Who was terminated?" Kaie asked. Madoka shrugged.

"I never met her. He said Kagari, but I guess she wasn't around when I was there. I don't know if you ever saw her," Madoka explained. The moment he said Kagari, he saw Kaie go still. She didn't respond. "Kaie?"

"I'm sorry, it's just surprising. I did meet her." Kaie shook her head. "It doesn't matter now though. I said what I needed to." Madoka had no idea what that was supposed to mean. "But you should tell Benitsubasa. She knew her as well. Trust me. Though, I don't know how much she'll actually care."

"Oh, uh, thanks." His day was just full of surprises. He hoped that would be all of them.

"But, can I ask why you're suddenly so determined?" Kaie questioned, a curious look in her eyes.

"Sorry, I know you guys aren't always too keen about me getting involved in other ashikabi's business-"

"No, I don't mind. I'll follow your lead without question," Kaie told him without a hint of doubt in her voice. "I'm just wondering."

"Well, I... I'm not entirely sure. I mean, you heard what I said, but," Madoka's voice trailed off. Everything he'd said to Minato was true. He didn't like Higa, and he felt bad for Uzume. But there was something else. To just jump in at a moments notice, those two things shouldn't have been enough for him. When he'd heard Minato tell him about Uzume though, what Higa was doing to her, he'd felt angry. For years he'd had anger, but this was different. He'd had the frustration of his parents and his failed love life, and he'd had the grind of his mediocre job with an abrasive boss, but that anger had been a dull roar, a cold flame that wouldn't burn anything. What he felt now though was burning hot and made him want to lash out. Higa just happened to be the perfect, easily justifiable target.

"Do you really detest the sekirei plan that much?" Kaie asked him.

"Yeah." Madoka nodded. "I can't pretend to fully understand sekirei, I know you're meant to fight. But MBI literally treats it like a game. Seeing everyone just toyed with is pissing me off. They're sending sekirei to people, letting them bond, and then forcing them to be torn apart. Maybe I'm missing something, but I can't make it right in my head."

"Madoka-kun," Kaie shook her head.

"I'm sorry, it's not like I'm going to quit on you just be-" He was stopped mid sentence as Kaie got up on her tiptoes and kissed him.

"Don't be sorry. I like that about you." Kaie smiled at him.

"C-come on, someone could see your wings." Madoka hid his lips behind his sleeve, also attempting to hide his blush.

"Then I guess I'm the one who needs to be sorry." Kaie smiled teasingly.

"Right, well, anyway, I have some calls I need to make before we get to work." He was going to need some help with his planning.

**. . .**

Madoka's sekirei showed up like clockwork at this point to walk him home. He didn't even think about it anymore, he just walked out the door and greeted them, often speaking before actually laying eyes them.

Today was different though, they wouldn't be heading straight home. In fact, they'd be making quite the detour. Explaining the situation to his sekirei was going to be difficult, no doubt. He remembered what had happened when Minato had asked for their help before. This time it was Madoka's idea, so that would be in his favor, and Kaie was already on his side, but he could almost predict word-for-word how Benitsubasa would react. His one saving grace would be Oriha's dislike for Higa. Sukaime would also take his side most likely. In fact, when he thought about it, the only one he was worried about was Benitsubasa.

"So, that's how it is," Madoka finished his explanation. "We'll be meeting up with the others soon, I called them on my way to work." He was speaking of the other three ashikabi they were allied with. His sekirei glanced between themselves momentarily.

"Perfect, I want to make Higa cry!" Oriha was on fire already. "I'll tear him limb-from-limb~!" In fact she was so excited he was actually a little scared.

"Poor Minato, everything happening all at once like this. We have to make sure everything goes perfectly!" Sukaime looked just as determined. Benitsubasa, however, was quiet.

"Benitsubasa?" Madoka questioned.

"What? Do we all need to chime in before we can move? If I was against it I'd be screaming, don't you know me by now?" Benitsubasa shook her head. "Honestly..."

"Heh, sorry. Good point. Let's get going then, they're probably waiting for us already." He couldn't believe things were going so smoothly. It felt like he'd been working on a massive jigsaw puzzle for weeks and he was finally getting it right. His sekirei were all working with him. No yelling, no arm-twisting or coercing. It was such a relief. But there was one more thing.

As they walked he grabbed Benitsubasa's arm gently. She glanced at him, and slowed down to fall into step with him behind the others. Once they were a short distance away, he began speaking.

"I never said which sekirei Minato lost," Madoka began.

"It wasn't Musubi was it? I'm gonna be pissed if I don't get a chance to fight her again," Benitsubasa mumbled, not seeming all that concerned.

"No." Madoka shook his head.

"OK?" Benitsubasa looked puzzled. "Even if it was her, why would I care which sekirei he lost? In case you haven't noticed, I'm not the friend making type." There it was again, he total disregard for fellow sekirei. It was something he couldn't comprehend. Did she really not care?

"He said it was Kagari. Does that mean anything to you?" Madoka asked her.

"Wh-wh-why would it?" Benitsubasa immediately turned to face away from him. She was a really bad liar. He chose to just stare her down until she broke, and that didn't take long. "F-fine, I knew him, er, her. Whatever! It doesn't... matter..." Her voice fell, and her eyes clenched shut. "Dammit, fine!" She stopped walking. "If it wasn't for... her, we wouldn't have met, OK?"

"What?" Madoka didn't understand, but Kaie had definitely given him good advice on this one.

"The lightning twins, I didn't escape from them on my own. I ran into another sekirei who held them off. I guess Minato ended up being the one to wing her." Benitsubasa clenched her fists. "I don't get it, even before being winged, she held off the twins and I could barely beat them _with_ help! How could she just die like that?"

"MBI set Minato up against the disciplinary squad in his match. It was the one who smashed the bridge, Heiwamori," Madoka told her.

"Whatever, I don't care. It doesn't bother me at all!" Benitsubasa began walking again.

"How can you say that?" Madoka raised his voice. Hearing her talk like that was endlessly frustrating.

"Just one less person for me to terminate myself in the end!" Benitsubasa growled. "Do we have to go over this again?"

"You really don't feel a thing?" Madoka wasn't letting go yet, grabbing her arm to halt her and force her to face him.

"Why, because she saved me? All that should make me feel is humiliated! I couldn't even survive to find my ashikabi on my own! Should I feel grateful because of that?" She stared into his eyes, now yelling. "I-I... I never even said thank you! So that's how I feel! I had my chance, and I didn't!"

"Don't say that like it was on purpose." Madoka could see through her now. She really was a terrible liar.

"Wh-what do you mean? I said I don't care, didn't I? Why should I thank someone who humiliated me!" Benitsubasa pulled free and backed away from him.

"Why are you trying so hard here? You tell me your life story, and now you're trying to lie to me? What's the point?" Madoka sighed, looking her in the eye.

"What kind of weak person needs to get rescued, huh? How weak do I really need to look before I just shrivel up and die? Should I just curl up and cry myself to sleep because I never said thank you to one person?" Her face was glowing red. "While I'm at it, should I lick Oriha's shoes clean? She saved me too, so fuck it, right?"

Madoka immediately flicked her head, causing her to flinch. Her expression immediately went from one of twisted anger and humiliation to pure confusion, pouting lips and all.

"Or you could just say thank you and be glad someone out there cares enough to want you alive. My biggest regret right now is that I was never introduced to the person who let me meet you. I never got to say thank you either, and I know I regret it. The fact that I had to learn all of this after it was too late sucks." Madoka stared at her straight faced and waited for her response.

"Wh-whatver. I g-guess I do regret it a little, happy?" Benitsubasa flushed and looked at the ground.

"It's a start." Madoka smiled. "Who are you trying to be so strong for anyway?"

"Shouldn't it be obvious? You." Benitsubasa looked at him like she indeed thought it was that obvious. He realized he should have seen that answer coming.

"Right. Heh, thanks." He chuckled. "But try not to do it at the expense of everyone else, OK?"

"M-maybe."

**. . .**

"How exciting, I feel like this is my first official team meeting. Not just us messing around, real business!" Masayuki grinned.

"Yeah, yeah, it's real cool smoker-bro." Sukaime coughed and did her best to wave the smoke away from her face. Masayuki sighed loudly and extinguished his cigarette beneath his heel.

"Sure, but what's going on exactly?" Kouji asked. As Madoka had requested, the group had gathered at their usual meeting spot, a street corner with a bench that a few of them could sit on. Of course all the sekirei were present as well. At this point, they probably stood out a little with so many of them, but they did their best to ignore that. The street corner was at least somewhat quiet anyway.

"Well, first of all, I need to confess something." Madoka sighed. This could end poorly, but he couldn't hide his alliance with Minato any longer.

"Yes?" Avaron looked at him patiently.

"I've been in contact with another ashikabi for a while now," Madoka explained. "He has a lot of sekirei, but he's asked for my help in the past. Something just happened, and this time I _want_ to help him. I'm not going to beg you guys to help, but I'd like it. I'll understand if you're mad though."

"Of course I'll help. I'm not mad at all. I've stayed with you exactly because you're like this," Avaron spoke up first. "Masukagami and I will help you and your friend. Try not to keep too many more secrets though, OK?"

"Hey, you're the leader right? I trust you. Whatever made you keep this a secret, I'm sure you had a good reason!" Kouji grinned. "We're in!"

"Well, I can't have us being left out. Like Kouji-kun said, you're the leader!" Masayuki nodded.

"B-but I haven't even said what's going on yet," Madoka was completely overwhelmed. Why were they so willing to help him? What had he done to deserve this?

"You spared Namiji and let us join up with you, and you haven't made us regret it once! This is gonna be our first big move as a team, right? I have to see this!" Kouji said excitedly. "I don't care _what_ it is!"

"Don't question things Madoka-kun, now what are we up against?" Avaron asked.

"Thanks guys." Madoka finally let himself relax a little. He still didn't understand their loyalty, but he was glad for it. He quickly explained what Madoka had told him about Uzume and Higa. "So, before I say what I have in mind, do you have any ideas?"

"Well, if this Minato is down one sekirei, and he's splitting them into two groups, he could use help to bolster his numbers right?" Kouji said. "It's just simple math at this point."

"Please let Masukagami handle this!" Masukagami's hand shot into the air. "I'll help protect their inn!"

"I could go too-" Namiji began to speak, but Masukagami shook her head.

"Please, I want to do this myself. May I?" Masukagami insisted. "Just me."

"Masukagami's more stubborn than you think, let her do it," Avaron spoke up on her behalf.

"OK. Don't worry, we'll find a role for you two as well," Madoka told Kouji and Namiji. "I'm thinking what would benefit them most is a distraction. I think you girls are going to like this part." Madoka turned to his sekirei. "We call Higa out for a duel. He'll have to take his eyes and some of his sekirei away from everything else and focus on us."

"Yes! I want to fight! You have to let me do it, please Madoka-sama!" Oriha tugged as the hem of his shirt frantically. "I want to fight those two for real this time!" Oriha clearly wanted her own revenge. It reminded him of when Benitsubasa had seen the lightning twins.

"I know, but you're not doing this alone," Madoka told her.

"You'll need me of course, I'm the only one who fight up close and personal," Benitsubasa boasted. "If we're calling him out like this, it only makes sense!"

"That's what I was thinking. If he does bring the two Oriha is after, they both looked like close range types." Madoka nodded in agreement.

"Then you'll want me as well, right?" Namiji asked.

"No! This is my fight! I want them all to myself!" Oriha complained vehemently.

"Heh, if you can finish your opponent first, then you can take mine from me. Consider it a challenge," Benitsubasa grinned darkly and stuck her tongue out.

"Fine then!" Oriha glared lightning bolts back at her.

"Then I guess I'll just tag along. If this Higa guy is really that much of a dirt bag, then I doubt he'll play fair. We'll watch your back!" Kouji said. "Err, but how are we going to set up this duel?"

"No idea. Anyone?" Madoka glanced between them.

"I might have one." Masayuki adjusted his glasses. "I've been keeping my ear to the ground. Higa plays by his own rules, as we've all seen by now. Let's use your jinki as bait. We know he wants it. Allow me to go to him as a messenger and propose an alliance. Higa's a known quantity to many at this point as a major player, and he knows this. We'll tell him in return for your jinki, that we want to merge forces and work with him for our own survival."

"And when he shows up for the jinki, we attack him instead. Nice." Madoka liked this idea. It could actually work.

"Why are you the one going to him?" Sukaime suddenly asked Masayuki.

"Well I'm the newcomer to the group. I fit the role of sacrificial lamb perfectly in case Higa won't play nicely. It makes more sense to send a messenger and play cautiously. Besides, if Madoka could get to Higa on his own, we wouldn't need all this set up. Higa's going to analyze everything we do looking for traps, so we have to out-think him. He'd find it strange if the leader of our group approached him directly and would probably back off and avoid a confrontation," Masayuki explained.

"Oh..." Sukaime blinked. "Right. Good point."

"So, it seems we have a plan. Good, that didn't take too long!" Masayuki smiled contentedly. "I will tell Higa that you wish to meet. Unfortunately we will have to let him decide the location. I'll set the terms to be two sekirei escorts at most if I can, and I'll contact you with the final location and terms when I've spoken to him. I'd best head off now, we don't have much time. You said two days, yes?"

"Yeah, two days is when Minato said everything will happen." Madoka nodded in confirmation and Masayuki headed off with a wave of farewell, Ikki close behind.

"I have to wait two days?" Oriha hung her head and groaned loudly.

"We won't be a very good distraction if we rush in early," Kaie said.

"I don't even care about that!" Oriha grit her teeth impatiently.

"Oriha..." Madoka stared at her.

"S-sorry, Madoka-sama." Oriha instantly turned from bloodthirsty to sheepish under his scolding gaze. "I didn't mean it! I-I just-"

"Yeah, I know. You'll get your chance when the time is right. Just be prepared; there's no guarantee he'll bring those two," Madoka reminded her.

"Well, now that that's settled, I say we go get a meal to celebrate our first plan, on me!" Kouji suggested. "We should come up with a team name while we're at it!"

"Please don't." Benitsubasa rolled her eyes.

**. . .**

Oriha was filled with an ominous feeling of anxiety. She remembered the two sekirei of Higa less than fondly and she looked forward to repaying them for their kindness, which was to say she wanted to make them regret ever tormenting her. Their regret would last only as long as they lived after they realized she was going to terminate them, but that would be enough.

Could she really do it though? The two followed Higa around like dogs, and someone like him wouldn't be escorted by weaklings, would he? How strong were they? How much of a chance would she have? They were both close range types as far as she could tell, what would she do if she couldn't keep them at bay?

She paced through the hallway, unable to sleep. In just a few hours, it would be morning, and in a few hours they would be heading for a fight. She'd never felt this before, such a sense of impending struggle. She'd never prior known so far ahead of time that she would be in a fight to the death. It usually just happened and she didn't have to think about it. She'd never had time to think about it. Now that she did, she wasn't a fan. Spontaneity had its perks. No time to plan, but no time to worry either.

She heard a door open and looked to see Madoka walking out of his room.

"Can't sleep?" He asked when he saw her.

"S-sorry, was I being too loud?" Oriha rubbed her arm guiltily. _Someone_ needed to get sleep, even if she couldn't.

"You kidding? You're a feather, you could do jumping jacks and not make noise," Madoka chuckled. "Nah, I guess I'm not sleeping too good either. Up and down, you know." He shrugged.

"What if I lose? What if I can't beat them?" Oriha fretted, wringing her hands.

"Don't worry, you're not alone, we'll get it done," Madoka told her. She just shook her head.

"That's just it though. I know how you are," Oriha sighed. "I'm... actually not worried that we'll lose. Like I said, what if _I _lose? I know you'll do your best to stop me from being terminated. What if I'm the only one who lets you down?"

"What? You think I'll think less of you? You should know better by now." Madoka frowned.

"But you heard me! I ran my mouth like an idiot! I'm not Benitsubasa, I can't just charge in there and start punching! I'll never live it down if I lose!" Oriha hung her head. "I just have this feeling like as a group, we can't fail, but I don't want to be the useless one..."

"Oriha, on the phone Masayuki said that the deal is for two sekirei per person as escorts. Sukaime and Kaie aren't going to be out there with us. I'm going to have to rely on you. I'm not worried though, I know you won't let me down. Once you're out there, you're going to forget all this and just do your best, right?" Madoka grabbed her shoulders and looked into her eyes. "I'll be right with you the whole time, I won't let you fall."

"M-Madoka-sama... I-I..." Oriha's mouth hung open, but she then nodded quickly.

"Good!" Madoka smiled. He suddenly placed a finger under her chin and leaned in. Her eyes snapped wide when she felt his lips. It was just her forehead he kissed, but it still made her shiver.

**. . .**

"All right, let's go! I'm ready to cause some pain~!" Oriha announced cheerfully as they headed out the door.

"Somebody's a little too excited." Sukaime crossed her arms. "Who gets _that_ excited before a fi-" Sukaime then realized that she was talking to Benitsubasa. "Never mind."

"All right, one more time," Madoka said. "Benitsubasa, Oriha, and I will go to the location Masayuki gave us. Sukaime, Kaie, I know there's no point in telling you to stay here, but we can't afford to spook Higa. You'll give us about a five minute head start, then you'll leave, but you'll take a different, longer route to get there to make sure you're not spotted. Stay out of sight unless we really need you."

"You got it boss!" Sukaime saluted. "You three just make sure you don't die before we finish taking the scenic route."

"I'll do my best." Benitsubasa scoffed. "Can we go now?"

"Yeah, no use waiting any longer," Madoka said. "Remember, five minutes!"

"Good luck." Kaie nodded.

"Th-"

"Won't need it!" Benitsubasa grinned.

**. . .**

At Izumo inn, the front door was given a polite knock. Moments later, it was opened, and Avaron and Minto caught their first glimpses of each other.

"Uhh, hi?" Minato said nervously.

"Hello, I'm Niwakido, Avaron." Avaron bowed politely. "Madoka-kun should have called ahead of us."

"Right, yeah, come in." Minato moved out of the way. Avaron walked in, Masukagami close behind.

"I'm Masukagami!" the sekirei exclaimed pleasantly.

"Thanks for agreeing to help. Um, how long did you know about me, if I you don't mind me asking," Minato said. He looked tired and dispirited as he spoke to them.

"We just found out a few days ago," Avaron told him.

"Oh, well I guess you weren't too upset. That's good..." Minato mumbled.

"Why would we be? You never hurt us. There was no point in being mad about it," Avaron smiled.

"Yeah! Now cheer up! We'll make sure everything is OK!" Masukagami grinned.

**. . .**

Madoka, Sukaime, and Benitsubasa arrived where they'd been told to go. It was a small courtyard behind some older buildings. Madoka had no idea where he was, having had to rely on directions given by Masayuki to make his way there. He hoped no one would notice the impending brawl.

"Well, we meet again," Higa spoke from the other side of the courtyard. To an extent, they were in luck, he'd even brought the two sekirei from the day Madoka had found Oriha. They didn't look happy to be there.

"Not exactly thrilled, but yeah, here I am," Madoka replied.

"Still toting around your stolen property I see." Higa turned his gaze upon Oriha.

"Shut the hell up." Madoka glowered back. "She's not the reason we're here."

"Fair enough." Higa shrugged onchalantly. "The jinki then, let me see it." Madoka sighed and dug into his pocket, pulling out the faintly glowing crystal.

"Here it is." Madoka jiggled for emphasis.

"Good." Higa walked closer, his sekirei following him closely. "Now hand it over." Madoka also walked closer, but stopped a safe distance away.

"You know, I was thinking about it. These jinki are really valuable right? I mean, MBI is making us fight over them. Are you sure it's OK to just give it to you?" Madoka asked.

"What? Of course it is!" Higa scowled. "We have a deal! You give me that crystal and cooperate, and you and whatever friends you have can work under me. Unless you'd rather fight over it." He rolled his eyes at the suggestion.

"Hm, sounds good. Let's rock." Madoka suddenly grinned.

"I wasn't serious." Higa glared dangerously.

"I was." As Madoka said it, Oriha jumped into action, sending her chakram flying at the enemy skeirei with long green hair. The attack was fended off as the other sekirei swung her staff, knocking the weapons aside.

"So it was a trap? How trite. In the end, the result will be the same. I'll still have that jinki." Higa scowled haughtily. "Terminate his sekirei."

"Toyotama, number 16," the green haired sekirei spoke. She had a revealing, skin-tight purple and white outfit that showed a considerable amount of her chest.

"Ichiya, number 18," Higa's other sekirei, with short black hair, spoke. Her outfit was a similar design, but purple and yellow, and it crisscrossed over her stomach, attaching to a metal ring a few inches above her navel.

**. . .**

"Thank you for being here," Minato said quietly. He looked a little more energetic now, but, perhaps understandably, he still wasn't in what could be considered a good mood. They were now waiting outside the front door. The wind sekirei, Kazehana, sat upon the roof nearby, keeping watch from above.

"Yeah, I didn't like the idea of doing this alone. I mean, I'm perfectly willing and probably even capable, but..." Kazehana spoke. All of Minato's other sekirei had left to go collect Uzume's ashikabi.

"N-no, Musubi or Tsukiumi could have stayed if-"

"Please, we have at least have some idea of what we're getting into here, you can't send them into the unknown with only one fighter. Let's just be glad Masukagami here makes the decision easy," Kazehana chastised him gently. "You _can_ fight, right?"

"Well, I'm never scared as long as she's with me. You can rely on her," Avaron answered with a smile.

"Masukagami will do her best!" Masukagami nodded confidently.

"Well, time to prove it. Here we go," Kazehana announced. Indeed, down the street, they could see the white-clad figure of Uzume approaching.

"Ah, you're right," Masukagami confirmed. "OK, I'll take care of it!"

"Wait, what?" Minato's eyes went wide. "T-take care of?"

"Yeah! Don't worry, everything will be OK. Trust Masukagami!" As Masukagami said this, Avaron felt no anxiety. Masukagami was totally calm, and somehow Avaron could feel that calmness flowing into her. Maybe Masukagami could handle it herself. No, somehow, she just knew. She could trust her.

**. . .**

Masukagami could hear concerned remarks from Minato and Kazehana as she walked down the street toward Uzume. She glanced back and saw the worry on their faces, but Avaron didn't share it. Avaron just nodded. Avaron believed in her, she couldn't fail.

As she got closer, Uzume stopped. For a moment they stared at each other in silence. Uzume didn't have her hood anymore. Masukagami supposed she didn't really need anymore, clearly her secret was out.

"You?" Uzume clearly hadn't expected Masukagami to be there. "Wh-why? How?"

"Ah, I guess this must be a surprise." Masukagami smiled pleasantly. "Shall we have proper introductions this time? I'm Masukagami, number 102."

"U-Uzume, number... 10," Uzume replied slowly. "I sti-"

"Do you know Madoka?" Masukagami asked. She saw the realization flash through Uzume's eyes.

"So he had other friends," the cloth sekirei sighed. "Dammit."

"Yes. Madoka was surprised; he said you were a nice person. I want to believe him. I've met a lot of sekirei at this point; a lot of them are nice, even though we're supposed to be fighting. When I look at you, I think that you could be a nice person too." She could tell Uzume had no idea how to respond. Silence retook the conversation as Uzume's jaw hung loosely open. Finally the other sekirei shook her head.

"That's stupid of you. That kind of naiv-"

"Don't misunderstand me, Uzume-san." Masukagami's tone darkened. "I'm not letting you past me. You already know that I can fight. I've terminated other sekirei before. You nearly beat me last time, I know, but you won't be able to beat me this time. I've seen how you fight, and I'm not scared."

"You don't have to be afraid of her." Masukagami grit her teeth as she heard another voice speak. Of course, Higa hadn't sent Uzume alone. This would be more complicated than she thought. Two other sekirei soon appeared. The one who had spoken was a petite girl with short, blonde hair, a yellow and black striped top, a leather belt slung loosely around her waist, and black hot-pants that didn't even begin to touch her thighs. She had two leather bands wrapped around her shoulders, and she had two sleeves matching her top that stretched from her mid-bicep all the way to her wrists, where she had black, fingerless gloves. She reminded her a little of Kaie, both with her outfit and the collar she wore, though this girl's collar was thinner, with no protuberances like the ring that dangled from Kaie's. Sai's body couldn't hope to compare to Kaie's though.

The other sekirei that had showed up though was a different story. She was shorter and looked much more timid than Kaie, but her chest had far more substance than the other sekirei. Like Masukagami herself, this sekirei wore a kimono of sorts, with a large waistband holding it shut. However, the sleeves of her top were semi-detached, but just as long as Masukagami's, obscuring her hands. For a bottom she wore a fairly plan pleated skirt. Her hair was dark and tide into two, long ponytails that come down all the way to her chest.

"Hm, will you please introduce yourselves as well?" Masukagami requested, trying to keep calm.

"Sai, number 31," the first one spoke in an impatient growl. Maybe she was actually like Benitsubasa more than Kaie; both in body and attitude. Masukagami decided to keep that observation to herself, and she'd certainly never tell Benitsubasa.

"Sh-Shi, number 40," the second spoke. She was definitely timid.

"Shi, shut up unless you're going to speak fucking normally!" Sai shouted at her. She then groaned and took a deep breath. "Uzume, if you're going to be playing with this idiot, _we'll_ get the jinki!"

"No, I'm afraid I can't let any of you pass," Masukagami spoke up. She glanced behind her quickly and motioned for Kazehana to stay where she was. Kazehana gave her a very puzzled look, but stayed put.

"That's not up to you!" Sai snapped and began walking past her, at what may to her have seemed to be a safe distance. Masukagami frowned and reached into the folds of her top for her mirror.

"Watch-" Uzume began to shout a warning, but Masukagami already had her mirror aimed by the time it was clear what she was doing. In a flash, she was behind Sai, slamming the large mirror into the girl's ribs. With her small frame, she was taken off her feet and tumbled a fair distance away.

"Like I said, I'm afraid I can't let any of you pass, and I'm quite capable of ensuring you don't." Masukagami narrowed her eyes dangerously. She looked at Shi. "I can tell you don't want to be here. I won't stop you if you wish to leave and cling to life a little longer." She couldn't imagine the girl, with no confidence, and such a horrible ashikabi, would make it much longer regardless. "The offer extends to you as well." She turned to Sai.

"Fuck off, like we get to make that decision." Sai coughed as she pushed herself up.

"I'm sorry." Masukagami's expression was one of true pity. She felt for the two, fighting for an ashikabi who wasn't even there for them. Who she couldn't imagine believed in them. It was horrible, but that was why Masukagami knew she could win.

"Don't look at me like that!" Sai's eyes shot wide with indignation. She pulled out a set of whips, topped with nasty, barbed blades. She flung them at Masukagami, but she side-stepped all but one of the blades. She flicked her hand-mirror into her palm and reflected the last one. The blade twisted back and shot towards its owner. Sai dove to avoid it, but it still grazed her shoulder, causing her to hiss in pain.

"She uses mirrors!" Uzume called out.

"I NOTICED!" Sai roared. "Fuck it; just get the god damn jinki!"

"R-r-right." Shi began to run towards the inn.

"I told you!" Masukagami aimed her mirror and appeared in front of Shi. The girl gasped in surprise, and had no time to react as Masukagami aimed her mirror, tearing open the girl's side. It wasn't a finishing blow, but it stopped the girl dead in her tracks.

Masukagami walked away from the girl as she clutched at her side. She stood an equal distance from all three. She needed to kill time. Now that she had the option, she needed to prevent a lonely battle with Uzume. Uzume was dangerous. She felt that she could beat Uzume, but she couldn't terminate her, the plan was to _help_ her. Besides that, she didn't _want_ to hurt her. If she could hold her at bay, while dragging out the battle with the other two, who were quite honestly not that strong, perhaps a fight with the cloth sekirei could be avoided entirely.

"Do you really believe you can stop all of us?" Uzume asked.

"Yes." She saw Uzume pause, sweat running down her face. She knew Uzume hadn't expected that, such a short, certain answer.

"How can you say that?" Uzume asked through grit teeth.

"Because I have my ashikabi behind me, and she's truly with me," Masukagami told them, hand held over her heart. She saw Higa's two sekirei flinch. Uzume just looked sick however, like she was already defeated. _"Hold on Uzume-san, we'll get your ashikabi back!"_ She wished she could just tell Uzume now, but it would have to wait. Surely that couldn't come out now, not with Higa's sekirei right there.

It was right then, right when Masukagami thought that she had everything figured out, that she heard what would bring everything crashing down: Minato's voice, thoroughly shaken. She turned to see him lowering his cellphone away from his face, hand trembling. She saw Avaron questioning him, a concerned look on her face, one that turned to shock when Minato opened his mouth.

Masukagami shot a nervous glance at her three opponents before deciding that she needed to know what had happened. With her mirror, it only took a second to be at Avaron's side.

"What's happened?" she asked hastily. Avaron leaned close before speaking, brow wrinkled with nerves.

"Uzume's ashikabi... she's not there. She's missing."

* * *

><p><strong>Well, that's a twist. Regardless of why, how shall they deal with this? Well, I know how, but you'll have to wait and see!<strong>

**Also, I'm officially abandoning my schedule for this fic. No longer can I trust myself (I couldn't in the first place honestly) to do the first Sunday of every month. I will still attempt one chapter a month, but it'll just kinda happen when I manage to finish a chapter. Hopefully I won't miss a month, but it's a serious possibility. Once I'm out of college next Spring, I'll be able to finish the last few chapters and get back on a schedule.**

**Thanks for reading!**

**Til' next time!**


	30. I Hate Surprises

**This chapter is a bit longer, so prepare yourself.**

* * *

><p><strong>I Hate Surprises<strong>

Oriha had felt energized. She'd felt invincible. She'd felt confidence flowing through her that Madoka had given her. She'd had doubts, she'd always had them. She'd doubted whether she'd had a bond with him. She'd wondered if any bond they'd shared had faded or died, or been buried by his feelings for one of the others. Madoka had put all those doubts to rest though. Whatever he felt for her or anyone else, that bond existed.

So why now, looking at Toyotama, did she tremble? All she could think about was how inferior she'd felt before. She remembered herself, lonely and cold, trying to hide from the rain. She remembered her path blocked by Toyotama, and then her retreat cut off by Ichiya. She'd refused their offers, but they'd harassed her incessantly. When they'd failed to force her along with them, they'd stolen her card. Without it, they'd just plagued her everywhere she ran, waiting for her to give in. She'd been powerless. That was the only thing she could remember about Toyotama, how powerless she'd been before her.

And those memories were being beaten back into her. Her greatest concern was becoming painfully relevant. How was she supposed to fight back at close range? Every time she missed, it was a snowball effect. By the time she'd recovered from a mistake, she had at least three new bruises to show for it.

Oriha sent her chakram out again. The first was dodged, and Toyotama deftly slipped past the second. Oriha thought she might have her this time. She'd been trying to find a timing that would keep Toyotama at a distance long enough for her to redirect missed attacks. She'd draw her in slowly, then when she was too close to dodge, but too far away to hit, she'd strike her from multiple directions.

Oriha gasped in fear as she realized her plan was a failure. Toyotama plowed straight through her next attack, batting the chakram out of the air and charging in. Oriha tried to direct another chakram at Toyotama in desperation, but as she moved her hand, Toyotama's staff crashed down on it. Oriha fell to a knee in pain, clutching her injured hand, and then took another strike directly to her face.

She felt pain radiating through her. She pushed herself up to her hands and knees and coughed, blood splattering onto the ground. She couldn't breathe, blood clogging her nostrils. She covered her nose with her hand, but still she could taste blood, feel it pooling around her gums. She realized the blood wasn't just flowing into her mouth, but out from inside it. She knew it was smeared all across her face, painting her chin and her lips.

She hated it. She was a failure, ugly and dirty. Madoka would never want to kiss her like this. She was going to lose. Toyotama was too fast, too strong. She was going to end up the very failure she feared she'd become. She was going to become exactly what Madoka had trusted her to not become. She was going to betray his beliefs and she was too weak to do anything different.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa grit her teeth. What had she gotten herself into? It wasn't that she didn't enjoy a good fight, but this was a fight that was so good it was bordering on frustrating. Ichiya was bigger than her, her reach was longer, and she was abusing that advantage at every opportunity. Benitsubasa's arms were aching and she felt they might go numb soon. She'd been blocking a barrage of kicks and the abuse was adding up quickly. She hated it, but she was stuck playing defensively.

She was doing better than Oriha though. She'd given up keeping track of her fight, having seen the girl thrown to the ground over and over. As much as she enjoyed doing better than Oriha, it wasn't going to matter if she still ended up losing her fight. She wasn't doing poorly enough for that fear to be too prevalent just yet, but she couldn't claim to possess certainty of victory either.

Well, if it was going to be that kind of fight, she'd at least make sure that Ichiya was bleeding before it was over.

"I just thought you should know, that your ashikabi's idea of a trap leaves something to be desired. Normally you're supposed to surprise your enemy and, you know, have some kind of advantage over them. What you're doing here, charging in head first with weaker sekirei, is what most people would call suicide," Ichiya spoke with a twisted smirk on her face. "What happened, did that little twat whine and beg? Did she want revenge on us?" Ichiya looked at Oriha.

"It's a little early to be talking. Now can we get back to fighting?" Benitsubasa grumbled impatiently. "I'd rather bust your lips than watch them spew pointless crap."

"What's wrong? Afraid if you stop moving too long you'll start trembling?" Ichiya chuckled darkly. "Don't mind me, go ahead. Shake, cry, piss yourself. It'll be a secret between us."

"Never." Benitsubasa's lips curled hatefully. "NEVER!" Benitsubasa shot towards Ichiya. She shot a fist towards Ichiya's gut, but it was blocked. She caught a glimpse of surprise on Ichiya's face and felt Ichiya's wrist strain against the blow. Benitsubasa's other fist shot up, slipping past Ichiya's other hand and landing cleanly on her jaw.

Benitsubasa surged forward, aiming another blow for Ichiya's face, but Ichiya redirected the punch past her. At the same time, Ichiya's leg shot out, striking the side of Benitsubasa's neck. Benitsubasa collapsed as her body went limp. She felt her strength return a second later, but Ichiya was already kicking her in the ribs before she could stand.

She was being stomped into the dirt. It was more shame than she could stand.

**. . .**

Oriha felt a hand envelop hers.

"Get up. Please." It was Madoka.

"I-I-" Oriha whimpered.

"Please," Madoka insisted. She let him pull her up to her feet. "What's wrong?"

"I just... I can't..."

"You don't have to." Madoka smiled, but Oriha could tell he was troubled. It was taking all he had to keep it together.

"No! I'd rather die! I'll keep fighting! Anything is better than failing..." Oriha hiccuped.

"I can't let you do that. I'll let you fight, but I won't let you die," Madoka said to her. "You know why."

"But-" Oriha felt herself going limp. She couldn't fight against him. Her heart would give out before she could raise an argument against him, he was making it beat so fast. Suddenly he clasped her hand between his.

"Promise me. Promise me you can win." She felt his hands shaking, his sweaty palms wrapped around her hand. Was he scared? For her? Why would he be so scared over her? Could it be-

"For the love of god, enough!" Toyotama shouted in exasperation. "You, idiot, get away from her or else I'll beat down both of you!"

"Don't talk to him like that!" Oriha spun on her heel, incensed by her words.

"You don't get to give me orders!" Toyotama swung with her staff, a wide swing that could easily do as she'd threatened and hit both her and Madoka. In a flash, Oriha's chakram shot out in an array. They flew into a vertical formation, like a shield. Toyotama's staff bounced off it; the chakram holding firm. The bladed hooks on the chakram had woven together, forming a stiff barrier.

**. . .**

Madoka was stunned silent. He felt like he'd almost died just then. He was losing count how many times Oriha had rescued them. It was twice now that she'd saved just him, and she'd saved the others at least as many times. It was the thing that terrified him most about his sekirei, the bond they had with him. Oriha was always her fiercest when it came to him. When he was in danger she exploded, and when he asked her to fight she didn't hesitate. He was afraid he was abusing that. He was afraid that she'd fight so hard that she'd die before he realized it was too late.

But something had changed. She wasn't just fighting with more rage, she was... just more. In an instant she'd created a shield from her chakram. He'd never seen her move her weapons with such coordination and speed. What had happened?

**. . .**

The array of chakram moved all at once, shoving Toyotama back. Oriha then unlatched her chakram from each other and they rearranged, the bladed edges now facing Toyotama. She felt a pressure that she'd never quite felt before. She could physically feel every chakram around her. Before she'd always just felt a tingle in her head, and she'd had to focus so hard to control them one, or maybe two, at a time.

Now though, it was like a movie in her head. She pictured where she wanted the chakram, and then it played out in reality. Everything was clear and focused, as if a wall had broken away. She could do this.

She sent a chakram towards Toyotama. As expected, the other sekirei dodged to the side. Toyotama's eyes widened as she saw Oriha's other five chakram flying in a line towards her legs. She jumped over the bladed trip-wire of chakram and moved to rush forward, but Oriha had already redirected her chakram. The five chakram broke formation and flew at Toyotama from behind, cutting into her back and sides.

As Toyotama fell to the ground, Oriha's six chakram returned, orbiting around her. As Toyotama pushed herself up, Oriha caught the shock and anger on her face. Oriha had the advantage now.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa was breathing heavily. She just couldn't figure Ichiya out. Even if she could hit her, and just getting close was a painful challenge, it didn't matter. Ichiya could break out of any combo she tried to start. She just couldn't get any momentum. She was worn out, fallen to her hands and knees.

The thing that hurt the most was she'd seen Oriha make a comeback. Why? Why her? At this rate Oriha would look good in front of Madoka and really would steal Benitsubasa's opponent from her. How could _she_ end up as the failure? It didn't make sense!

"Are you ready to give up and die like a good girl yet?" Ichiya asked. "You gave me a bruise or two, you should feel proud, but that also means I'm a little impatient now."

"I don't give up," Benitsubasa growled and began to push herself back to her feet. She cried out when Ichiya lunged forward and stomped down on the back of her head, grinding her face into the dirt.

"You know, you're just amusing enough that I'm going to let you live until I hear you give up! Won't that be fun?" Ichiya shouted sadistically. Benitsubasa grit her teeth, fighting the urge to cry out again as rocks and grains of sand cut into her face. She flailed until she knocked Ichiya's foot away. She scrambled back, getting into a sitting position, arm held in front of her defensively.

"Fine, go ahead. But while you're wasting time with me, your friend is getting killed!" Benitsubasa glared. She didn't know why she said that. Did she want Ichiya to hurry up and kill her? She knew Madoka would make Oriha save her, so why wouldn't she just buy time? Madoka would want her to do that, so why didn't she? Maybe she was just that stubborn. Maybe she wanted to ruin Ichiya's "fun." Maybe she hated herself that much for losing.

So maybe she wouldn't lose. Maybe she was _that_ stubborn.

"So?" Ichiya said after a short pause. "Then she'll be out of my way. Then I'll finish you and kill the little twat girl too."

"Pfft, Madoka doesn't play that way. He'll have Oriha attack you before I'm done and screw the rules. So hurry up or you'll have to deal with both of us, and then you'll have more than bruises!" Benitsubasa yelled.

"Fine, have it your way!" Ichiya swung out with another kick. Benitsubasa's arms screamed with pain as she brought them up to block it, but she was still sent tumbling. Ichiya ran after her and moved to stomp her, but Benitsubasa rolled out of the way. However she immediately rolled back, throwing herself onto Ichiya's legs and knocking her over. She rolled once more onto her back and dropped her elbow into Ichiya's stomach as she did, forcing the air out of her.

Benitsubasa lunged once more, reaching Ichiya's face. She began to rain down blows, but only landed two before the third was blocked. With her free hand, Ichiya grabbed Benitsubasa's hair and yanked her off.

She was still tired, still aching, but Benitsubasa wasn't done yet. She'd keep going until Ichiya was just as torn up as she was.

**. . .**

It was a complete reversal. Oriha was now knocking Toyotama's weapon about. Every strike Toyotama attempted, Oriha swatted aside with a chakram, and she could command her chakram faster than Toyotama could attack. Oriha was certain of her superiority now. Her doubts were gone, her fears extinguished. She was ready to end it.

She saw her opportunity as Toyotama jabbed her staff forward, trying to speed up her attacks, but it wasn't enough. Oriha hopped back out of the way and just like a predator ready to go for the throat, her chakram became her jaw. Three from above, two from below, they snapped shut on Toyotama's staff, breaking it in half. As the other sekirei's eyes went wide, Oriha lashed out with her sixth chakram, raking it across Toyotama's shoulder. Disarmed and injured, Toyotama couldn't move as Oriha's other five chakram circled back around Oriha, building up momentum before they all tore across Toyotama, hip to shoulder, throwing her to the ground, and leaving all Oriha's chakram stained red.

"I… I did it!" She'd come to the realization that she'd win before it had actually happened, but to actually be standing over her opponent, one that she'd held a grudge against for so long, who'd humiliated her so badly… it was a strange feeling.

"Yeah. Good job," Madoka said. She heard the tension in his voice. She knew he didn't like the fighting. "I knew I could trust you."

"Th-thanks." Oriha blushed. He'd definitely changed. His distaste for the Sekirei plan was stronger than ever, but he was no longer the distant ashikabi he'd been before. He was wholly on their side, believing in them, in her. He was there for them, not just "there." "No, I need to make good on that challenge. It looks like Benitsubasa needs the help anyway." Oriha turned towards the fight, but Madoka's hand fell upon her shoulder. She looked back and saw Madoka, tight lipped, eyes filled with worry.

"Wait," he said after a moment. "I'm sorry, but at this point… I need to let her fight. _She_ needs me to let her." Oriha could tell he was uncertain, and she wanted her revenge on Ichiya as well, but she stopped. If it was what Madoka wanted, then she'd just resent Benitsubasa later. Or she'd comfort Madoka after she was terminated.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa hastily wiped her hands on her clothes. At this point her arms were bloody, split open from the excessive abuse she was taking. Her fingers were getting slick with the blood as it ran down.

She was beginning to despair. It wasn't that she wasn't strong enough, but she'd seen Oriha win. She was out of time. She wouldn't get to prove herself.

"Well, out of time." Benitsubasa's hands fell to her side. _"Fuck it. I don't care. It's Oriha's fight anyway…"_ That's what she told herself, but she didn't believe a word of it. She wanted to win so badly. "You took too long, now the 'twat' is probably gonna kill you. I hope it hurts." Ichiya paused and then raised an eyebrow. A second later she grinned and Benitsubasa's eyes went wide – right before Ichiya's foot slammed into her face.

Benitsubasa rolled across the ground, but then scrambled to her hands and knees in a panic. Struggling to breathe, she coughed up blood as began to fill her mouth. As she gasped for air, she wondered what Oriha was doing. Was she going to let her die? Why bother? Madoka could just have Sukaime or Kaie come out of hiding. Hell, even Namiji should be nearby.

She looked up and saw Oriha standing next to Madoka. A realization dawned on her. Oriha wasn't holding back to get her killed, she was being held back. Was Madoka giving her a chance? Did he really still think she could win this fight?

As she knelt there, stunned, jaw agape with blood rolling down her chin, she forgot she was still in a fight. Ichiya's knee careened into the side of her head, and she was subsequently kicked in the stomach. As she spat out more blood, she began to slowly push herself up again. Before long she couldn't help but laugh. She even creeped herself out.

"Did I finally break you?" Ichiya stared at her in befuddlement.

"No." Benitsubasa chuckled as she finally regained her feet. "Just got a reminder of how much better my ashikabi is than yours," she spoke with a bloodstained grin.

"What?" Ichiya glowered, hands balling into fists.

"Well just look. Your ashikabi hasn't said a word, even though your friend over there just got her ass handed to her in pieces. You know what I see though? He looks _annoyed. _He just lost a sekirei, and he looks annoyed. How annoyed do you think he'll look when you get terminated? I wonder." As she spoke, she saw red-hot fury flash across Ichiya's face.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Ichiya roared.

"Sure." Benitsubasa had remembered something else just now as well. "SHOCKWAVE!" Her gaze turned down and she shot her fist into the ground. It split apart and a fissure crawled its way rapidly towards Ichiya. As it reached her, the ground erupted, spraying the other sekirei with debris and knocking her off her feet.

As Ichiya tried to push herself up, Benitsubasa took the chance to return the favor Ichiya had been paying her the entire fight long and swung her foot into her face, slamming her head back into the ground.

"Get up." Benitsubasa looked down at Ichiya. Part of her actually felt bad that her ashikabi was so terrible. Ichiya began to rise, but stopped halfway. Suddenly her arm swung out and knocked Benitsubasa's feet out from under her. At this point she actually wondered if she had enough energy to get up again, she'd been knocked down so many times in this fight.

She didn't have time to worry about that as Ichiya's hands wrapped around her neck. For a moment she was too surprised to do anything. She'd never considered being strangled as one of the ways she might be terminated. She supposed there was no reason it wouldn't work, but it wouldn't be happening today. She grabbed one of Ichiya's arms, and then struck out with her legs, hooking one across Ichiya's throat and the other across her chest.

Just as her vision began to fade, Benitsubasa summoned all her strength and pushed Ichiya off. Furthermore, she now had her trapped in an arm bar. Making Ichiya submit through pain wasn't an option, so that left her only one choice. She pulled until she heard Ichiya scream, and then even more until she heard the crunch of Ichiya's arm snapping. Only then did she let go.

Even with her arm ruined, Ichiya wasn't terminated and did her best to stand. The moment she got to a knee Benitsubasa was before her, hands held in front of her face.

"SHREDDER!" Her hands slammed forward into Ichiya's face, and as the other sekirei was rocketed back, Benitsubsa felt a fine mist of blood spray across her own face. At this point though, it didn't make a huge difference to her appearance.

As Ichiya tumbled away, she landed face down, allowing Benitsubasa to watch as her crest faded. It was finally over. It hadn't been a weak opponent and she hadn't had help. It was the perfect victory for her. She didn't care how much it had hurt. If anything, the pain was proof of her efforts.

"Not bad," Oriha spoke, walking over. "Looks like it hurt for her. Good."

"Eh? You're not mad I stole her?" Benitsubasa tilted her head. Benitsubasa would have been the first to tell Oriha to screw off if she had gotten on her case, but Benitsubasa found it strange that she wasn't.

"Whatever, I hated the other one more and you didn't mess up, so I don't care." Oriha crossed her arms. "Besides, you got your ass handed to you in the process, so I'm fine either way."

"Heh, if beauty pageants were won with bloodstains, we'd _both_ have a chance. Don't get cocky." Benitsubasa chuckled. Oriha was plenty beat up herself.

"Uhhh, girls?" Madoka suddenly interrupted them. "Problem."

**. . .**

Oriha looked back at Madoka, wondering what he was talking about. They'd both won, what could possibly be wrong? It was at that point she saw that something was missing. Toyotama's body wasn't where she'd left it, and MBI hadn't shown up to claim anyone yet. She whipped her head around to Higa and saw exactly what she was afraid she'd see.

"Crap, norito!" Oriha's eye twitched. Indeed, Toyotama was already leaning in for a kiss from a very apathetic Higa. Oriha kicked herself mentally. She had been sure Toyotama was down, but she'd never checked her crest.

Toyotama's wings spread, large, bright green shards over her back, and she began chanting.

"My staff enforces my pledge. Crush the doubts of my ashikabi!" In a flash, Toyotama's broken staff was rebuilt and began to glow. _"Kiniro B__ō!"_

"Shit!" Madoka's face went pale.

"Keep it together! Use mine too!" Oriha knew if she could use her norito, Toyotama's wouldn't matter. "Hurry!" Fortunately, Madoka quickly shifted his focus to her. It was a little shocking really. He barely hesitated. As soon as he met her eyes, he leaned in. As her wings set off their violet display, she began chanting, but it was different. "These turning gears carry my pledge. Open up the paths before my ashikabi!" One by one, then two by two, until it was faster than one could tell, chakram flashed into existence around Oriha, until she was barely visible past the multitude of spinning blades. Toyotama couldn't get near her.

She might not need to though, as Toyotama's staff extended, flying into the chakram. Metal shattered as the staff tore through them, but as the staff came out the other side of the swarm of steel, it was gouged and splintered.

Oriha wasn't planning to let Toyotama swing again. Her chakram weren't meant to be a shield. Her norito had a much more vicious purpose.

"_Tokeijikake Tsuki!"_ The chakram flew from Oriha, and flew into a spherical formation before her. "I still win~!" Oriha grinned and the sphere of blades flew towards Toyotama. Toyotama swung at it, shattering chakram, but there were too many. Shards of chakram and staff flew, and soon the sphere had swallowed Toyotama whole.

"What the hell is this? Let me out!" Toyotama shouted from inside the sphere.

"In a minute~! I'll let you out when you stop moving!" Oriha snapped her fingers, and the sphere began to move. Chakram darted back and forth, swapping places, weaving rapidly in and out of the sphere. It was a deadly puzzled game, with every move spilling blood. Soon it became so fast that one could hardly tell the chakram were moving. As soon as one darted in to slice into Toyotama, another replaced it. Outside it was a slowly rotating sphere, almost peaceful if not for the screams of pain. On the inside it was a storm of razors.

Soon it went quiet, and Oriha pulled her chakram away; most of them vanishing just as they'd appeared.

**. . .**

Madoka felt his blood turn cold. What he was seeing suddenly was… indescribable. His mind shut off, as if trying to reject the sight before him. As Oriha's chakram flew away, Toyotama came back into view. He'd tried to tune out her screams, but this wasn't something he could even begin to try and ignore.

Toyotama stood, though he had no idea how, with wounds across her whole body. Flesh cleaved open left and right, and standing in a quickly deepening pool of her own blood. She'd dropped her staff, or what was left of it. On the ground next to it were her severed fingers.

He'd seen Benitsubasa injured before, he'd seen her opponents injured before, but this level of brutality, it was more horror than he'd ever experienced before. He wished it could have stayed that way. He wanted to leave.

He flinched as Toyotama's body collapsed. It snapped him out of his stupor, but did nothing to settle his stomach. Oriha turned to face him, expression as bright as a sunbeam.

"OK, I'm sure she's done _this_ time!" she told him. "Err, Madoka-sama?"

"Wh-what?" Madoka shook his head, trying to remain focused.

"Are you OK?" she asked, looking confused.

"Y-yeah, fine." Madoka clenched and unclenched his hands.

"Well, I hope you're happy. Your little trap worked," Higa spoke. His face was icy cold and full of malice. "I-…" His eyes flared with anger again at a sudden interruption. His phone was ringing. He pulled it out of his pocket, and it must have been important to answer at a time like that. "What?" he spoke tersely. His hands threatened to crush the phone as he reacted to the other end of the line. He shoved the phone back into his pocket a few moments later. He looked at Madoka, and a joyless smile spread on his face. "Well, I guess we're done here." Without a further word, Higa walked away, the bodies of his sekirei still decorating the ground.

"Well then, once the helicopters show up, I suppose we should go check on Minato," Madoka said. He wished the choppers would hurry.

**. . .**

"What do you mean missing, Avaron-sama?" Masukagami's voice shook. Now what was she to do? She'd barely pieced together a plan as it was. But now what? Her "plan" had been to stall and do her best to keep Uzume in one piece until it was all over. There was no way she could stall now. Was there any time left to play with? She couldn't know. It was over.

"They can't find her ashikabi. She's not where she should be, and they can't figure out where she went," Avaron whispered.

"A-any chance she just went to the bathroom?" Masukagami smiled nervously.

"I don't think so." Avaron shifted her weight with just as much anxiety.

"Then… I…" Masukagami's eyes went wide, face otherwise blank, mouth ajar. What now? What? What? They couldn't stop Uzume now, they couldn't make it safe. Uzume would keep fighting until it was safe for her ashikabi… or… "No!" Masukagmai clutched at her head, shutting her eyes tightly. Slowly her arms fell to her side. "I guess there's no other options left."

"What are you saying?" Minato stepped closer.

"I'm putting a stop to this!" Masukagami raised her voice. "Avaron-sama…" Masukagami raised her hand to gently caress Avaron's cheek.

"I understand." Avaron leaned closer until their lips met, sparking Masukagami's wings to spread into their brilliant, crystal-blue form.

"W-wait, tell me what you're doing!" Minato pleaded, but Masukagami didn't answer him. She couldn't look at him.

"My mirror holds my pledge! Unveil the wishes of my ashikabi!" Masukgami chanted, holding her large mirror in the direction of her grimacing opponents. _"Hahen Senkou!" _Her mirror sudden flared with bright light, and then seemingly shattered, scattering shards of lustrous glass across the battlefield. In an instant, Masukagami was gone, then appearing behind Sai. She held out her palm mirror and using Sai's own memorized attack, cut the girl open. Sai cried out, and then snarled, whipping around to lash out with her whip-blades, but Masukagami vanished once more, immediately reappearing just out of Sai's line of sight, cutting the girl open again. And again. And again. Masukagami teleported as fast as one could blink, jumping short distances in rapid succession until Sai collapsed, reaching her limit on what she could take.

"No... fair…" Sai gasped out.

"I'm sorry you struggled alone," Masukagami said, and vanished once more. She had two more opponents before her norito ended. She couldn't waste time.

Shi's eyes shifted back and forth with terror. Masukagami came in from the side and struck her shoulder, cutting into it. Shi swung wildly with her other arm, but Masukagami was gone long before the blow could land. She appeared once more to strike Shi's good arm before she could retract it, and with her arms barely able to move, Masukagami next appeared behind her, in two quick motions, she cut through Shi's clothing and found her seal, placing a finger upon it.

"My mirror reveals my pledge. Reflect misfortune upon her ashikabi," Masukagami spoke. Before Shi could hit the ground, she was gone again.

When Masukagami appeared next to Uzume, mirror held to her throat, Uzume barely flinched.

"Go ahead. You were right. You have your ashikabi, I can't win like this. I'm pathetic," Uzume whispered, throat tight. Masukagami could see the pain in her eyes. It tore at her.

"I know what you're going through," Masukagami said.

"Sure." Uzume's eyes narrowed.

"Your ashikabi is in trouble and you don't know what to do. You do what you think will help, but you can't help but wonder what the right thing really is. You want to hold her tightly and pray everything will be OK, but you're denied even that," Masukagami spoke softly.

"What? Rubbing it in?" Uzume looked away.

"I know she's sick. I know what Higa is doing to you," Masukagami said. "I know what it's like to see your ashikabi suffer and feel helpless. The difference is, I was able to fight through it. It's not fair that you're being used like this… this isn't how it's supposed to be."

"So?" She saw Uzume begin to tremble.

"So…" Masukagami sighed and shut her eyes. She lowered her mirror. "I can't let it end like this." She suddenly turned, pulling out her larger mirror, and once again vanished. She appeared next to Minato, grabbing him. "You're giving her what she wants. Now."

"I-I…" Minato's eyes shot wide as he felt her mirror held up to his neck.

**. . .**

As Madoka and his entourage came upon Izumo, he immediately knew something was off.

"This… doesn't look like a victory celebration," Sukaime said.

"I don't see Avaron." Kouji looked around. Madoka's jaw tightened. Had something happened to her? All he saw was Minato sitting out front of the inn, head down with Kazehana next to him looking like she was trying to comfort him.

"Minato," Madoka called out, jogging over. "What happened?" Minato didn't answer though. Kazehana glanced at him, and it gave him chills. She looked angry, but why? "Minato?" Madoka was suddenly very uneasy.

"Your… friend…" Minato spoke quietly. "Betrayed us."

"She… wait what?" Madoka nearly stumbled while standing still

"You said I could trust her!" Minato glared up at him. It was the most hostility, perhaps the only hostility, he'd ever seen in Minato. "She took my jinki! You sent her! This is your fault!" Minato stood up, face turning red with anger.

"But, that's impossible! No way, she wouldn't do that!" Madoka shouted. Would she? What if it really was his fault? Did Avaron have a grudge against him because he'd rejected her? She'd seemed so happy afterward though, he'd thought she'd worked things out somehow. With her though, it was hard to tell.

"You really think so? She had no obligation to us. She probably just saw an opportunity to get ahead in the game," Kazehana said.

"I… didn't think she cared about that." Madoka's voice was unsteady. This had all been his idea, and it was falling apart.

"Just go. Maybe it wasn't your intention, but… j-just go!" Minato turned away from him.

"I'm sorry." Madoka hung his head. He moved to leave; he couldn't look at Minato anyway. He was too guilty. Why did this have to happen? He was trying to make things better, not worse! Before he got far, he heard something land behind him. He turned to see Minato's other sekirei returning.

"I-I'm sorry Minato. We failed, we couldn't find her!" It was Tsukiumi and she looked as guilty as Madoka did.

"I don't understand. There were records of her in their computers, but I couldn't find anything about her being moved!" Matsu spoke next, her expression contorted and perplexed.

"It was an inevitable risk. Maybe I should have prepared you for it, but there was nothing to be done," Masayuki suddenly spoke up. "The timing was too perfect. Whether he honestly suspected we were involved or not, our distraction was too coincidental. He must have moved Uzume's ashikabi as a precaution. I guess in a way, that's my fault. I should have come up with a better plan that wouldn't have been as likely to tip him off."

"Don't feel too bad smoker-bro, we should have thought of it too," Sukaime muttered. "We're all idiots I guess. We didn't fool our target, and our 'friend' fooled us."

"Well, why don't we go get her then?" Masayuki suggested. "We can't stand for this betrayal."

"I guess that would start making up for this." Madoka grimaced. "She's tough though, and we're already down two."

"Hey! Don't write me off! I owe her one!" Benitsubasa growled. "Don't think I'm sitting this out!"

"I'm still willing to fight if I have to!" Oriha chimed in as well.

"H-hey, can't we just talk to her? I mean, this is Masukagami we're talking about! You know, nice to the point of being retarded?" Sukaime argued.

"But she'll do whatever Avaron-says, and she's not as nice," Madoka said. "Trust me. At this point we can't trust her anymore." Madoka turned to Minato. "Any idea where she went? At the very least, maybe we can take back what she stole from you."

"I don't know, she teleported. She left with Uzume," Minato told him.

"What? _With_ her?" Madoka hadn't expected that.

"Yeah, she terminated two of Higa's sekirei, then took me hostage and made me give up my jinki," Minato explained dejectedly.

"Hey, when Uzume attacked us, Masukagami let her go pretty easily. She didn't seem to fight her as hard as she could have. Maybe they're working together or something. Who knows what kind of weird stuff they've been plotting," Kouji said. "I mean, a lot of stuff was weird about that, like how Avaron specifically made me call you instead of her doing it."

"Like I said, we should _TALK!_ None of this makes any damn sense if you ask me! I want answers!" Sukaime yelled.

"Be quiet and let Madoka-kun think. It's his decision," Kaie reprimanded her.

"Don't tell me what to do, ice queen!" Sukaime glared.

"I… don't know…" Madoka couldn't make up his mind. Avaron was unstable, he was certain of that now. If they spoke to her and she came up with some excuse, and he trusted her again, what was stopping her from screwing him over next? What if he lost one of his sekirei because he didn't get rid of her when he had the chance?

"Madoka-kun, listen to me. At least give her a chance! If we just fight her without thinking, we can't undo that! If we talk to them, we can still get rid of them if we decide it's necessary! Please, you said you trust me, right? W-we can't just terminate Masukagami without a second thought!" Sukaime pleaded. Kaie sighed after she finished speaking.

"I… guess you're probably right," Madoka said hesitantly. Wasn't this what Benitsubasa had warned about though? Avaron was bound to be an enemy someday no matter what, wasn't she?

"What matters is what _you_ think is right," Kaie said.

"Just shut up! You barely even know them! Stay out of this!" Sukaime looked ready to burst. Madoka had never seen her so mad. Something like this though, he wasn't surprised that everyone was getting worked up. He knew he was.

"W-well what do the rest of you think? This isn't really my decision." Madoka definitely needed help on this one.

"Well we obviously can't trust her. We'll always be wondering," Masayuki said.

"Another meaningless answer from someone who barely knows them," Sukaime grumbled.

"I-I don't know. I don't want to terminate Masukagami either. I mean, I like those two. They're both kinda weird, but they were our friends. I want to think they still are. Who knows, maybe she did betray Minato, but what if she didn't mean to betray _us_. What if she just doesn't see him as an ally?" Kouji looked as uncertain as Madoka. "But it is hard to trust her now. I dunno. I can't decide something like this."

"Just get rid of her. Let's be honest, it's the easy way out and we'll be glad we did it later," Benitsubasa said. "Sometimes the easy way is the good way."

"I know you don't want to Madoka-sama, but she's right about that," Oriha agreed with her. He saw Kaie nod as well.

"You're all fucking heartless! If you do this, I'm leaving! I'll go let someone terminate me just so I don't have to live with this! This isn't what Madoka wants. Don't make him do something he doesn't want to do!" Sukaime was practically screaming.

"Don't make empty threats. It's pathetic." Oriha crossed her arms.

"You don't know what Madoka does and doesn't want." Kaie shook her head.

"C-come on Madoka-kun, you're always the one making us play nice. The one time you almost didn't, you said you were glad I made you. Please don't change now," Sukaime stared into his eyes. "It's your fault I made friends with other sekirei. I don't want to regret it!"

"None of this matters if we can't find her. Let's just start there." Madoka sighed. It was a blatant cop out – a non-answer. He had no idea what he was going to do. He hated himself for thinking that he actually agreed with Benitsubasa on this one. He expected her to and understood why Benitsubasa would think that way, but for those thoughts to be in his mind was disturbing. Maybe Sukaime was willing to risk trusting Avaron and Masukagami, but he wasn't sure he wanted to let her take that risk. In the end, he had to decide who was more important to him, and who he was willing to lose.

**. . .**

After nearly three hours, they were unable to find her. Madoka had even called her cellphone a few times. Much to his surprise, those calls ended up paying off right as they were about to give up for the day. Avaron called him.

"_You called?"_ Avaron said.

"Is that really a surprise to you?" Madoka asked, struggling to control his voice.

"_I… suppose not. You probably have questions."_

"Where are you?" Madoka cut to the chase.

"_Tell me where you are, it'll be faster if we come to you. You know how Masukagami works by now,"_Avaron replied. Obviously trust was an issue, but he supposed Avaron could screw him either way, so he told her. To his surprise, Avaron's arrival ended up being rather timely.

"Hi." Avaron waved. She looked nervous. "I gu-"

Before she could say anything else, Benitsubasa stomped over toward Masukagami. Masukagami only had time to flinch before Benitsubasa bulled into her, grabbing her by the throat and slamming her into a nearby wall.

"Fuck this, I'll end it. My decision. Makes it easy on everyone!" Benitsubasa reared her fist back.

"WAIT, DON'T!" Avaron screamed, terror and desperation plain on her face. "Please! We didn't betray you!"

"Don't care!" Benitsubasa's fist sailed forward, but Masukagami raised her palm mirror before her punch could land, and just like before, her fist bounced off and she slid back, losing her grip on Masukagami.

"I don't want to fight you. Just listen to us, I'm begging you!" Masukagami lowered her mirror, not entering into a fighting stance.

**. . .**

"You have to stop it!" Sukaime grabbed Madoka's shirt, tugging desperately. "She only listens to you, you know that!" She felt ready to cry. The worst thing was, she could tell Madoka still, even now, hadn't decided. He glanced at her, but said nothing. The next, most disturbing thought, was that maybe he was actually OK with this. At the very least, she feared he might be ready to let it happen. What if he really did let Benitsubasa choose for him? Was he really going to just use her as an excuse to not decide?

No, he couldn't! That wasn't him! That wasn't the ashikabi she'd fallen for! That wouldn't be the person who'd changed her! She'd been a cynic; a hateful, worthless person stewing in her own misery, drinking in everyone else's for her own sick pleasure.

"_Don't let me down! Don't you dare! You can't let this happen!" _Sukaime prayed mentally. She couldn't let herself believe this was really going to happen.

**. . .**

Madoka shut his eyes tightly. A small part of him had hoped Benitsubasa would end it right there before he could have a chance to think. But now… he had that chance.

"Damn it Sukaime," Madoka muttered. "Benitsubasa!" When he caught Benitsubasa's eye, he motioned for her to stop. Much to his relief, she just rolled her eyes and obeyed. He really couldn't take any more stress, so he was thankful for that.

"I still might kill you before the day's out," Benitsubasa told Masukagami.

"I… suppose," Masukagami replied. "I hope not. I want to stay friends."

"We'd have to have been friends in the first place."

"Thank you, Madoka-kun," Avaron said. "I know you don't think you can trust me right now, but I don't think you'll have any doubts for long." She held her hand out to Masukagami, and her sekirei produced two jinki, handing them over to her.

"What? Trying to bribe me with Minato's jinki?" Madoka scowled.

"Actually I'm hoping you can help us return them. I don't think he'd be happy to see us if we went alone."

**. . .**

**-Three Hours Earlier-**

"What the hell are you up to?" Uzume asked Masukagami.

"I'm going to get you back to your ashikabi. I'll use the jinki as leverage and make sure your ashikabi is OK. Just trust me on this one and back up whatever I say. I'm might have to twist facts a bit to make Higa trust me," Masukagami said.

"He'll never trust you," Uzume said.

"Well, I don't really need him to. I just need to make him listen to me," Masukagami clarified. Uzume then led her to the hospital where her ashikabi, Chiho, was supposed to be being kept. Who they found there was not Higa, but another man with dark hair and glasses.

"Uzume, who is this?" the man asked.

"Someone who sympathizes with her… situation," Masukagami replied.

"Clearly you're the sekirei. Why don't we have your ashikabi speak," the man's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Clearly _you're_ just an underling. Why don't we have your boss speak?" Avaron matched his hostility.

"I assure you I'm quite qualified to speak for him," the man assured her.

"Are you qualified to take this?" Avaron looked to Masukagami, and Masukgami pulled out a jinki. "I think you should call him."

"Actually, I believe I am qua-"

"No," Avaron flatly rejected him. "We're handing it over for a reason and we don't want any empty promises from you. We want to speak to Higa." The man sighed heavily and dug into his pocket, pulling out a cellphone.

"Very well..."

**. . .**

After some time, Higa showed up, looking none too pleased. Masukagami wondered how hard he would be to deal with. She supposed she would find out.

"Greetings," Masukagami said to him.

"Enough. I'm not in the mood. What do you want?" Higa frowned deeply.

"Well, we felt bad for Uzume, so we decided to help her. If we give you jinki, you'll continue her ashikabi's treatment, correct?" Masukagami asked.

"That's the deal I had with _her,_ yes," Higa answered. Masukagami noticed the way he worded it. There was nothing to suggest that he'd hold up that bargain if she gave him the jinki rather than Uzume.

"Well, if I'm going to be ensuring her treatment, I'd like to see her," Masukagami said.

"I don't see how that's necessary," Higa replied.

"Well, let me be clear." Masukagami smiled. "I might be supplying this jinki on Uzume's behalf, but right now it's _mine. _If I'm going to give up something so important, I need to make sure it's worth it. Besides, I stole two of these, so don't try anything if you want to see the other one. I assure you it's well hidden." Masukagami felt a sliver of pleasure seeing Higa's face tense up. He was furious, but she was going to get her way, she could tell.

"Fine then, I'll take you to her." Higa somehow kept a straight, if barely, face through it all. He suddenly snapped his fingers, and a sekirei who had been waiting out of sight came into view. She had short hair and traditional Japanese robes, involving a white top and red hakama bottoms.

"Good. Uzume, please stay here and watch Avaron for me. No need to crowd him," Masukagami glanced at Higa. "I'll make sure your ashikabi is kept safe."

"I..." Uzume spoke hesitantly, but nodded. "Please."

"Well then, lead the way," Masukagami requested of Higa. Higa looked skeptical, but he must have thought he had the upper hand, and didn't question her motives for doing things the way she was. That or he must have really wanted the second jinki.

Masukagami was led around behind the main facility. They traveled down a path that led to a short stone wall. One might have thought it marked the property boundary, but Higa walked up to a gate and opened it. The path continued to an older building. It looked residential, though large. It must have been at least 100 years old or more.

"What is this?" Masukagami asked.

"Where it all began. Decades ago, people came here instead of that facility. My family kept it as a memento of sorts. We moved the girl here where no one would think to look. Normally, we don't bring patients here anymore," Higa explained. Thinking upon his clever tactic to hide Chiho must have improved his mood, as he didn't' sound ready to wring anyone's neck anymore.

Once inside, it was clear someone was still bothering to care for the building, as it was immaculate. They probably hired someone to do it. Higa led her and his own sekirei up to the second floor. The other sekirei bugged Masukagami. She was so quiet, and had an unsettling aura about her. She did her best to put that out of her mind, as it seemed they had arrived.

"In this room," Higa said, opening the door. "Ladies first, I suppose." Higa urged her to enter. Masukagami entered the room to find a girl lying in a bed. There was some mobile medical equipment on a rolling cart set up next to the bed.

The girl was petite and fragile looking, with long, light-brown hair. She was brought back for a moment to when she had found Avaron, frail and alone in the asylum. What if she hadn't had the power to free Avaron from that place, what would things be like now? Would she have even been winged by her?

"Uzu-… me?" The girl, Chiho, looked up, but confusion was clear on her face when she didn't recognize who was now before her.

"I'm sorry. I'm afraid I'm not who you expected," Masukagami said.

"Who are you? Why are you here? Are… you a sekirei?" Chiho asked worriedly. "D-do you know why _I'm _here?"

"Oh my, so many questions." Masukgami giggled.

"As you can see, she's fine," Higa said.

"Well, I'd like a moment to speak with her. I'm sure that won't hurt," Masukagami replied quietly.

"Make it fast," Higa urged her under his breath.

Doing her best to ignore Higa's impatience, Masukagami walked over and sat down on the edge of Chiho's bed.

"Um…" Chiho edged away slightly.

"Don't be afraid, I'm a friend of Uzume's. She's very worried about you, but she can't be here right now," Masukgami told her softly. "And you're right, I am a sekirei. That's how I know how special you are to her. I've seen it in her eyes." Chiho blushed fiercely and looked away.

"Ah, so it's mutual!" Masukagami smiled. This time Chiho pulled her bed sheets partly over her face.

"Wh-wh-what do you want?" Chiho turned her eyes to look at Masukagami.

"Well, I'm trying to help Uzume you see," Masukagami said.

"She needs help?" Chiho's head snapped in Masukagami's direction. Her lips quivered. "I-I wish I could be with her more. I-I don't even know what she does when she's not with me, but…"

"You're a smart girl aren't you?" Masukagami whispered. "You must see it when she visits you, that something's not right." Chiho nodded slowly.

"She always tells me she's sorry, but that everything is OK. I know it'll trouble her if I act like I don't believe her, so I always pretend I do. C-can you tell me what's wrong? I can still keep it a secret that I know if I have to, b-but if you're here and she's not-"

"Shh." Masukagami put a finger over Chiho's lips and leaned close. "There are a lot of things to learn, but I can't tell you them. I'm not your sekirei. Now just listen for a moment while I still have time." She waited until Chiho nodded and pulled her finger away. "Sekirei aren't really meant to get along you know, but… it's funny, because our ashikabi don't follow the rules the way they're meant to, so things change. That's why you're here, that's why I'm here. That's why Uzume-san is so sad all the time. And it's why I feel that though the ending to all this has probably been decided in advance, I don't think that everything will go as planned. I hope you can be a part of that."

"OK, enough. The patient needs to rest. We brought her here where it was more relaxed because of that." Higa stepped into the room. Masukagami bit her lip, and leaned a little closer to Chiho.

"I know you don't know me, and I can't think of the words to give you a good reason to trust me," Masukagami whispered. "But can I ask you to hold on tightly?"

"H-huh?" Chiho's eyes went wide in befuddlement.

"Do you wish to see Uzume?" Masukagami smiled. Chiho nodded. "Then please."

"Who are you?"

"I'm Masukagami," she told her.

"I-I'm-"

"Chiho, I know." Knowing her name must have given Chiho just enough reason to throw caution to the wind. Her arms went out and around Masukagami's neck.

"What the hell are you doing?" Higa shouted. Masukagami completely ignored him. She put an arm around Chiho's waist, and another wrapped around her head. In a burst of motion she pulled Chiho out of the bed and held her close, and then dashed towards the nearby window – and then went straight through it.

Clutching Chiho close still, her arm shot back out and grabbed the windowsill. From that position she hung at arm's length and then dropped to the ground, trying to make the softest landing possible for Chiho.

"Don't let go!" she ordered the girl. She felt her nod, and then pulled out her mirror. She used it twice, getting as much distance possible as quickly as she could before she just ran with all her might. She finally made it back to Avaron and Uzume.

"Chiho-chan!" Uzume exclaimed.

"Uzume-chan!" Chiho responded with equal enthusiasm. Masukagami let the girl down, and though feeble, she stumbled over to Uzume and the two embraced. Uzume pulled her up into her arms, tears coming from her eyes.

"Wh-what? What is this?" Masukagami had nearly forgotten about the glasses wearing lackey. She was about at her limit for tension for the day, so she just turned to the man and punched him, letting him slump to the ground unconscious.

"Wow," Avaron commented. She seemed to approve though.

"P-please don't tell anyone. Sukaime would make fun of me." Masukagami fidgeted. "B-but we need to hurry, they'll catch up soon. We need to use my norito."

"I suppose, but can you use it again so soon?" Avaron asked. "You already used it to get away from the inn, and another norito before that."

"I've had enough time. I don't see any options anyway. At worst I'll just be a little more tired than usual," Masukagami told her. She honestly had no idea what the consequences of back-to-back norito usage were, but they had no choice.

"OK. Everyone get close!" Avaron ordered. Uzume had already been through this once, so still holding her ashikabi, she stood close to Masukagami. Masukagami kissed Avaron and her wings spread for the third time that day. Her heart felt like it would explode out of her chest. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. Or maybe she just really, really liked Avaron's kisses.

"My mirror reveals my pledge! Reflect he dreams of my ashikabi!" With her arms wrapped around the other three, she spun her mirror. She heard their pursuers draw close, but it didn't matter. A split-second later, they were gone.

**. . .**

"Wh-what was that?" Chiho asked, wide-eyed in awe. They were on top of a building. Higa's facility was only a white dot in the distance.

"That was a norito. I haven't shown you yet, but whenever you make my wings spread, I have the option to use one," Uzume explained to her.

"You can do that too?"

"It's different for everyone." Masukagami laughed as she put her mirror back into her robes.

"Ah! Masukagami-san! Your hand!" Chiho gasped.

"Oh." Masukagami looked down. "I guess I cut it on the glass." Her hand was indeed gushing blood. It was starting to stain her robes.

"Let me see." Avaron grabbed her hand. "There's still a shard. Don't flinch!" Avaron firmly gripped the piece of glass still in her palm and tugged it out.

"Owie." Masukagami pouted. Her pout turned to a dazed, red-faced smile when Avaron put her mouth to the wound, cleaning away some of the blood.

"That can't be sanitary," Uzume commented with a frown, covering Chiho's eyes. "That's just weird."

"There's nothing weird about love!" Masukagami scowled.

"Umm, Uzume-chan." Chiho pried Uzume's hand away from her eyes. "Masukagam-san said you were in trouble. Can you explain now, please?"

"I... I don't know." Uzume bit her lip. She turned to Masukagami. "Thank you for giving Chiho back to me, but in the end, I don't see how this fixes anything!" She looked ready to cry.

"No, it fixes everything!" Masukagami grinned. "Finding us sekirei let MBI invent all kinds of things, including medicine."

"Y-you mean…" Uzume's jaw hung open.

"Yep! And Minato-san's mom works there, so they're already waiting for her!" Masukagami explained. "We've had this all planned out for days! Though, when they hid Chiho, that made things a little more complicated. I-I hope Minato-san forgives me. I-I had to make you think I was really betraying him for you, or you might have slipped up when you had to face Higa. If I was the only one who knew what I was planning, then no one could tip off Higa. Even Avaron-sama was just blindly playing along." She hugged Avaron at that point. "You were amazing by the way!"

"Well, I figured I should just trust you. That hasn't been the wrong decision yet." Avaron smiled.

"I-I'm still so confused." Chiho looked like her head was going to explode.

"I-I don't suppose you could explain for me. It's… hard to say it myself." Uzume averted her eyes.

"I'll tell her what she needs to know to understand, but you should tell her everything later," Avaron said. "The short version is that Higa was using your treatment as leverage. He's an ashikabi as well, so he threatened to stop your treatment if Uzume didn't obey him. Basically, he got to use her even though she's not his sekirei."

"But now we've found someone else who can treat you, and they'll do a much better job!" Masukagami added. "We should hurry and get you to MBI now. They'll take care of the rest."

"I-I had no idea. I always knew something was bothering you, Uzume-chan, but I didn't know it was that bad!" Tears leaked from Chiho's eyes. "Thank you so much, both of you. If something had happened to Uzume-chan just because I was sick, I wouldn't' have been able to keep living."

"Well, there are a lot of other people to thank. I'll introduce you to them when you're feeling better!"

**. . .**

**-Later-**

Madoka had no idea what to think. It was an incredible story. He was distracted when his phone rang. He almost ignored it, but it was Minato's number.

"Minato?" he answered.

"_H-hey. I don't really understand what's going on, but my mother called me. Uzume and her ashikabi are with her. She says they can treat her, cure her. M-maybe you should listen to Sukaime and give Avaron a chance to explain. I just… I don't know."_ Madoka stood there quietly. _"Um, hello?"_

"I-I already found them. They told me what happened," Madoka spoke, his voice subdued, nearly monotone.

"_Oh. That's good, right?"_

"Yeah. We'll be heading back to you soon." Madoka hung up the phone. He didn't look at anyone. He walked over to a nearby wall and slid to a sitting position. His expression was blank as he buried his face in his hands.

"M-Madoka-kun?" Sukaime asked in concern.

"They're… telling the truth," Madoka replied.

"Ah! Well that's f-" Sukaime, and everyone else, flinched as Madoka suddenly screamed into his palms. "Wh-wh-what?"

"H-hey, you OK man?" Kouji spoke up too.

Madoka was panting, sweating, and shaking. Everything was OK, but it had almost gone so wrong. Masukagami and Avaron had stopped everything from becoming a total disaster. If not for her, his plan would have made everything _worse_. And he'd nearly thanked them by letting Benitsubasa attack Masukagami. He'd been ready to terminate her. He was a fool. His arms slowly fell to his sides.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"Hm?" Avaron tilted her head.

"I'd convinced myself that you were too dangerous to keep around. I'd told myself that no matter what you said, it wouldn't make a difference; that it would be better to get rid of you." He chuckled wryly. "You should thank Sukaime. This is twice now she's stopped me from making a colossal mistake." Avaron didn't respond right away, but instead sat down next to him.

"Well, isn't that what they're for? Sekirei?" Avaron said. "I don't know. Maybe not everyone appreciates them. No, I know some people don't. Too many of them don't, really. But what I think? I think that sekirei are there to fix us. If we make sure we're around for them, then they'll always be with us to help us. And that's why you couldn't risk having someone around who you thought would threaten them." Avaron laughed and suddenly punched him in the arm lightly. "So you're forgiven, this time. But then next time you threaten my precious Masukagami, I'll kill you in your sleep."

"N-noted." Madoka gulped. "Thanks."

**. . .**

"So, you seriously came up with that all by yourself? On the spot?" Sukaime asked Masukagami, eyebrow raised.

"Yup! I got really lucky that everything worked out. It almost went wrong a few times!" Masukagami answered.

"Wow. I thought you were dumber than Benitsubasa, but you're actually a genius," Sukaime said, awestruck, blinking her eyes in disbelief.

"You're pushing it," Benitsubasa growled.

"Well, when I know Avaron-sama has my back, it's just so much easier to think clearly, you know?" Masukagami grinned.

"Ah, yeah," Sukaime answered hesitantly.

"Come on, Madoka's cool! You must know what I mean!" Masukagami patted Sukaime's shoulder.

"Of course I do! Y-you just have Avaron all to yourself! I have to share. I guess jealousy just gets in the way sometimes." Sukaime frowned.

"Oh. I guess it is different." Masukagami touched her chin thoughtfully.

"Yeah." Sukaime sighed. _"I guess even geniuses can be naïve."_ Jealousy had nothing to do with it. Madoka would never, or at least he should never, trust her like that. She'd have never been able to pull off what Masukagami had. She was too weak to be trusted; she'd just let Madoka down. _"You should thank Sukaime. This is twice now she's stopped me from making a colossal mistake."_ Then again, maybe there was still hope. At least she could smile about that.

* * *

><p><strong>So I hope you all enjoyed all the fight scenes in this chapter. I feel like as the fic goes on I'm putting less detail into the fights, and just turning them into introspective moments for the sekirei involved. In this case, Oriha And Benitsubasa kind of "leveled up," so I think the way I handled it was just fine. At the same time, I made the fights a little more... graphic (bloody). Let me know if you liked that, or if you thought it was just stupid.<strong>

**I also feel like I finally pulled Avaron and Masukagami back into the picture in a good way, so I hope you enjoyed that as well. I also hope I kept Masukagami in character. I feel like she's the kind of person who surprises everyone when she finds a reason to get serious, and she certainly had a reason here.**

**I'm kind of rambling a bit now. This was a big, important chapter, so I'm a bit nervous and it's coming out here. I guess I'll stop now.**

**Don't forget to let me know what you're thinking in a review, and...**

**Til' next time!  
><strong>


	31. I Hate Doubt

**I am so very, very, very, very, very (this could go on for a while) sorry. But I'm back! This is a two part chapter and I'll release the second part in a week or so. Yeah, this was 20 pages long, and it's only part one... hence why I split it, heh. **

**A big thank you to those who kept with this and left reviews. It totally motivated me to get this done finally.  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>I Hate Doubt<strong>

Everything had ended well. What was the old saying? All's well that ends well? What did it matter what had _almost_ happened or what had _almost_ gone wrong? Nothing truly bad had happened in the end, right? Uzume had gotten her ashikabi back, MBI had promised that they would be able to cure Chiho, and he hadn't lost anyone. None of them had lost anyone. The only one who had lost anything was Higa, their enemy.

So, Madoka was left wondering, why couldn't he sleep? Was it because his plan had effectively failed? What had he really done to help the plan succeed? He'd gotten into a fight with Higa and his own sekirei had barely emerged victorious. Furthermore, Madoka himself had managed to come away from that with gory nightmares.

It had been Masukagami and Avaron who'd ensured the plan had succeeded and he'd almost tried to get rid of them anyway because he'd failed to trust them. Avaron may have done some strange things, but she deserved better than that from him. Benitsubasa would have been gone if not for her.

Madoka found himself in the kitchen drinking water from the sink. He wet his hands and splashed his face, but nothing was snapping him out of his thoughts. It was becoming torture. He couldn't bring himself to just accept what had happened and move on. "All's well that ends well" wasn't cutting it for him.

"What's wrong with you? You're sending out vibes, man. It's making it hard to sleep." Madoka nearly jumped out of his skin as Sukaime walked up next to him and leaned against the counter.

"Um, sorry?" Madoka apologized awkwardly. Vibes?

"So? Don't leave a girl hanging. What's wrong?" Sukaime looked at him.

"It's complicate-"

"Don't even think of finishing that thought." Sukaime pinched his arm. "Talk."

"Everything turned out right, didn't it?" Madoka asked her, hands clasped together tightly.

"Hm? As far as I can tell, yes. Uzume is happy, Avaron and Masukagami _aren't_ traitors, and Minato got his jinki back. Oh, and Higa's probably bashing his head against a wall somewhere, so that's a plus," Sukaime told him. "You disagree?"

"If everything went so well, why do I feel like crap?" Madoka groaned.

"Well, you did kind of convict Avaron and sentence her sekirei to death in your head. Guilt'll do that to you," Sukaime said, causing him to hang his head in shame. "But, hey, she forgave you right? Just don't do it again and everything will be fine."

"But they keep looking to me as some sort of leader. What kind of leader nearly kills their friends for doing something good?" He shook his head. "My plan didn't even work! I'm useless!"

"How didn't it work?" Sukaime tilted her head. "We got what we wanted!"

"Avaron was just supposed to help defend Izumo. We tipped off Higa and Avaron and Masukagami ended up in way more danger than they were supposed to!" Madoka slammed his fist on the counter.

"Oh hush. If you throw a tantrum you'll wake the dog and she'll start barking at us!" Sukaime sighed. "And you're looking at it all wrong! What you _did_ was _accidentally_ tip off Higa, but since you had Avaron in position to deal with it everything still went OK. What do you think would have happened if Avaron hadn't been there? I'd bet anything that Uzume would either be dead or still working for Higa and Chiho would be slowly withering away in his shitty hospital." Sukaime put a hand on her hip and pointed at him with her other. "_You're _the one who chose to make friends and this is how it paid off. So what if it got a little rocky? Higa had a ton of sekirei, he was able to manipulate sekirei that weren't his on top of it, and we _still_ kicked his ass. Without your alliance Minato and Uzume would have been screwed."

"I... uhh..." Madoka was dumbstruck by Sukaime's logic – mostly because she made sense.

"You're not gonna feel better right away, but just acknowledge that I'm right and you'll be fine in no time." Sukaime crossed her arms triumphantly.

"Yeah, probably. Thanks Sukaime." Madoka managed a small smile. He was still convinced he'd screwed up in at least a few places, but Sukaime had convinced him that he'd done enough things right; at least enough to not hate himself. "You know, stopping to save you can go in the list of things I did right. You're the one who was arguing on Avaron's behalf." He caught her off guard with that, turning her face a pleasant shade of red. Of course, being Sukaime, she immediately rolled with the punches.

"Pfft, damn straight!" She flipped her hair and turned to head back to bed. "I am _so_ good. Nighty-night Madoka-kun."

The next morning, Madoka was ambushed by a different sekirei; this time before he even got to the kitchen. As he walked down the hall, Oriha, quite on purpose, bumped into him. One arm wrapped around his and her other hand fell upon his chest.

"Good morning Madoka-sama." She looked up at him adoringly. For a moment everything was fine and he was simply wondering how long he was going to let her cling. Then he felt his skin begin to crawl, his heart began to beat way too fast, and he broke into a cold sweat. He felt sick.

"G-good morning." He fought to keep his voice as steady as possible. He grabbed her hands and pulled them away. He couldn't stand her touching him right now. "Why don't you hurry and make breakfast before Benitsubasa starts complaining. Her voice isn't always pleasant first thing in the morning, especially when she gets loud." His joke was able to distract her just enough it seemed, as she giggled and trotted into the kitchen to start cooking. Once she was out of sight, he nearly collapsed, putting a hand on the wall to steady himself.

A moment later, Sukaime joined him in the hallway, looking deeply concerned.

"I missed something, didn't I?" She grimaced.

"Y-yeah, seems like. Definitely not OK here," Madoka replied in a shaky whisper.

**. . .**

It was starting to become obvious that he was living a double life. He had his normal, boring life and his life as an ashikabi. For everyone else, his lives were totally separate. His boss and his co-worker; they had no idea what else was going on in his life. For him though, if he was exhausted or on the verge of a mental breakdown because of what he had to deal with as an ashikabi, it was still quite relevant when he had to get through a full shift at work.

At first it almost seemed like it would help. Slipping into a different mind-set, not thinking about what he had to deal with and what he'd gone through. Then the monotony kicked in; the mind-numbing repetition of his job. He didn't _have_ to think, so his mind wandered elsewhere. It wandered to dark places – bloody places. He needed a better distraction.

By the time his work day was over he knew Kaie was getting suspicious. He didn't want to talk about it though. Then again, he wasn't going to get that option. It wasn't Kaie though.

"Ready to walk home?" Sukaime asked.

"Uh, yeah? Why wouldn't we be? We do this every day," Benitsubasa replied impatiently.

"Good! Now you go do that while I steal Madoka-kun!" Sukaime grabbed his arm and began dragging him off.

"Wh-what?" Benitsubasa started. "Where are you taking him?"

"Around!"

"Hey-" Madoka halted Benitsubasa, weakly waving for her and the others to head back home. "Ugh, I want him back before dark!" Sukaime didn't answer her though.

A minute later, Madoka found himself being led through alleyways.

"So... what's up?" Madoka asked uneasily.

"I figured a nice, relaxing walk through the back-streets of Tokyo might do you some good," Sukaime explained.

"Uh-huh." Madoka frowned. "Since when is that relaxing?"

"What? Nervous?"

"Well I just get this feeling like I could get raped at any moment. The curse of being born with hair like this," Madoka grumbled.

"Well at least your sense of humor is intact." Sukaime patted his arm. "But you're with me, so it'll be perfectly fine! The average rapist ain't got nothin' on this!"

"Right, so what are we really here for?" Madoka asked, shoving his hands in his pockets. He had a feeling he knew though.

"Privacy. Clearly I still have to fix you. I figured you'd want to avoid witnesses," she told him.

"Great, so I need fixing now." He hung his head.

"Well, there's a problem if you can't touch our lovely doll Oriha without puking." Sukaime crossed her arms. "You two are so infuriatingly cute together after all."

"T-together?" Madoka stepped anxiously away from Sukaime. "What's that supposed to mean? We're not 'together.'"

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Sukaime waved him off. "The point is you've got issues."

"I'll give you that one." Madoka sighed, staring up at the sky past the rooftops.

"So, what's wrong? Why Oriha?" Sukaime asked.

"It's not Oriha. Well it is, but it's her... hands." Madoka looked down at his own hands. "This morning when she touched me I just couldn't stand it. And then I couldn't even look at her, I wanted her to get away from me. Being near her made me sick to my stomach."

"Oh. Well that's not good. Don't tell _her _that; I think she'd actually die," Sukaime said. "Why?"

"You must have seen at least part of the battle, right?" Madoka asked.

"Yeah, so?" Sukaime tilted her head. Before he even answered though, her eyes went wide. "Oh. Ohhh..."

"I take it you've figured out my problem?" Madoka asked tiredly.

"When she used her norito." Sukaime nodded slowly. "That was... intense."

"It was death." Madoka narrowed his eyes. "Termination, death, they've always been a little different in my mind. Termination isn't like death, at least not from what I could see. It could be brutal, painful, bloody, but it didn't look like death. Sometimes it could almost be clean. But what I saw Oriha do to that sekirei, _that_ was more. _That_ looked like death. Wounds that deep, that much blood, that much screaming; I don't know what else to call it." He shut his eyes, feeling himself begin to shake again. "Normally a sekirei just sort of gives in when they've been hurt enough, and then they stop moving. But that time, what I saw... Anyone who's had that done to them, I can't imagine them living through it. Human or sekirei, no one could get up from that. And I know she didn't."

"I... get what you mean. Things that wouldn't normally look fatal will terminate sekirei. It's deceptive. It almost makes doing horrible things easy to bear. We have limits, and even if we still look whole, we're done once we reach them. Oriha just happened to go way beyond those limits. Overkill. When she used her norito, that other sekirei was already hanging on by a thread," Sukaime responded thoughtfully.

"I don't see how I can be fixed. I can't just _un_see that. Maybe this feeling will fade, or maybe I'll just never get over it and I'm just fucked up for life," Madoka spoke in a strained voice.

"No. I'm not letting you go through that!" Sukaime raised her voice. "I know it's not something words can fix this time. You can't just rationalize this away. I can't give you a better way to look at it. It was just something horrible for you to see."

"Like I said. Can't be fixed." Instead of saying something else right away, Madoka felt Sukaime pull his hands out of his pockets, holding them tightly. She made him turn to face her and then she pushed him back until he was up against a wall. She then pulled him down until he was in a sitting position. He almost resisted, but even a sekirei like Sukaime was still stronger than him, despite her appearance.

"I know it's hard, and you won't want to, but focus. Focus on what you saw, and what you felt. And then relax as much as you can. Just let those feelings flow out of you," Sukaime ordered him softly. "Don't run away from it."

"I-I... it was bad enough seeing it the first time, why-"

"I need you to keep trusting me. I know I'm not the best sekirei, but I'm here for you. So let me do what I can!" Sukaime clasped both of his hands tightly. Madoka was quiet for a while, but then he nodded.

"I don't know what you're up to, but all right." Madoka shut his eyes and pictured what he saw. It was sick. His mind replayed it in grizzly, sharp detail. It was like his own mind was trying to torture itself, visualizing it out of a morbid sense of curiosity just to see what it would make him feel. And what he felt was horrible. A powerful, negative feedback that made his mind tear at the insides of his skull. It was like he was trying to break out and escape from inside himself to make the images go away.

It was then that he felt Sukaime's forehead press against his, her hands cradling his face.

"It's OK. Keep going, you'll be fine. You've seen it, but that's all. It's just something that happened that's not real anymore. It's in the past. You'll never have to really see it again." Sukaime's voice was more comforting than he would have expected. "Maybe you'll have to see other things someday, but you'll be strong enough to handle it."

"I-"

"Shh, just be quiet and focus," she told him. "I don't know if it's normal, or if it's because I'm not really human. Maybe all sekirei are this way, but things like that don't bother me too much. When I think about it, it's sad what we sekirei have to go through, but the violence itself is just... there, it doesn't matter. I guess it's because we need to be strong enough to try and survive. It's bad enough that some sekirei are just naturally better, I suppose it would be totally hopeless if we couldn't even stomach violence.

I can feel that it's different for you. I-I didn't even realize feelings like these existed. It's horrible, but now I understand what happened to you. It's not fair to Oriha though, if you continue on like this. It's not fair for either of you. But maybe I can teach you what I feel, or rather, what I don't." It was strange what happened to him next. The scene was still in his mind, but it felt like cool water was being poured into his head. Slowly the painful feedback in his mind began to fade away. The images were still there, but he could look. He still hated what he saw, but it was a rational hate. He hated it because of what it represented, not because of the debilitating feeling of sickness it had given him.

As he opened his eyes, he realized he didn't feel Sukaime anymore. He looked around and saw that she was sitting next to him, against the wall, with her hair plastered to her face with sweat. She looked exhausted.

"H-hey! Are you OK? What happened?" Madoka turned to hover over her worriedly.

"Ah, I'm fine. But this is why I had to do this. This morning, I could tell you weren't OK before I was even in the same room with you. I could feel it. The thing is so can the others. It's a sekirei thing," Sukaime told him. "I knew if it went on, those three would catch on too and then it would just make it harder on you. It wouldn't have been fun for them either."

"You can... feel what I feel?" Madoka asked, eyes going wide.

"Not all the time. But, for example, when your ex showed up we _all_ felt that. You were just radiating emotions like nuclear fallout. This time I'm sure they all noticed too, but I guess they're not as perceptive as me. They didn't understand it and had no idea _why_, so they just ignored it at the time. If it had gone on any longer, they would have definitely realized something was wrong though," she explained breathlessly.

"So what's wrong with you right now?" Madoka was more worried about that at that moment.

"Ah, well, this is because I sort of took in what you were feeling. I wasn't just sensing it, I was experiencing it. In a way, I guess you could say I brainwashed you while I was at it. I replaced what you were feeling with what I felt. And no, I had no idea I could do that until just now." Sukaime's expression turned more somber. "I guess I've always been kind of like this. I realize now that all sekirei can feel things, but it's different for me. I can feel _everyone_:_ y_ou, other sekirei, and even people who I have no link to – everyone. It's not like I can read minds, but I can _feel_ things. Subtle hints of emotion. I have no idea why."

"You... brain-jacked me?" Madoka's eye twitched. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. At the same time, he knew how he felt about seeing Toyotama cut to ribbons, and it was a hell of a lot better than before.

"S-sorry, I was just trying to help." Sukaime fidgeted anxiously.

"No, you did. It worked," Madoka told her.

"Well of course I know it worked. I can feel it," Sukaime muttered, averting her gaze.

"Right..." An awkward silence ensued for a minute. "So you're psychic?"

"Something like that, I guess." Sukaime shrugged. "But like I said, I can't exactly read minds. It's just that when I let myself, I can feel what everyone else is feeling. Normally I think the others can only feel whenever your emotions spike extra high." Sukaime rubbed the back of her neck nervously. "It's a skill I may have abused in order to torture Benitsubasa. Sorry."

"Right, well, we've already been over that, so don't feel bad about that all over again," Madoka said and stood up. "But, are you OK? What I was feeling was pretty bad." He held his hand out to her.

"Yeah, I'm fine now. It was pretty harsh, but it's not like we traded or anything; I was just taking in what you were feeling. Once I cut it off inside you, it stopped for me as well." She took his hand and stood up as well.

"That's good." Madoka sighed in relief. "Thanks, Sukaime. You have no idea how much that helped me."

"Anything for you, Madoka-kun!" Sukaime tightened her grip on his hand and pulled him close, planting a kiss on his cheek. She seemed pleased that he chose not to complain.

"Err, while you're feeling helpful, I need to ask about something that's been bothering me," Madoka said. "How do you feel about other sekirei? You kind of mentioned it a little just now."

"What do you mean?" she questioned.

"It's something Benitsubasa said that I can't get out of my head. It seems too easy for her to just terminate other sekirei. I mean, I could barely watch someone getting killed, but for her it's like nothing. She enjoys it, even though there are so few sekirei. There are billions of people, but even just one death can feel so tragic, but there are only a hundred sekirei, and despite that it seems most of you just go along with the fighting." Sukaime looked away.

"I can't give you the answer you're looking for. It might seem like we all work the same way, but we don't. Even if it's just a little, me and Benitsubasa feel differently about it. I could probably read her for you, but that would feel wrong. I don't think there's a very comforting answer for you no matter what though," she told him.

"So then how do _you_ feel?" he asked.

"I... don't know anymore." Sukaime shrugged. "If I have to terminate another sekirei, I won't hesitate, that's all I know. I'm not going to lose sleep over it or anything."

"I see." She was right, that wasn't comforting at all. "Let's head back. They're probably starting to worry."

"I'm sorry, Madoka-kun."

"Don't be." Sukaime flinched, but then smiled as he patted her on the head. "You're definitely on my good side today."

**. . .**

Two days later, it was the weekend. Unfortunately, it turned out that there would be no time to rest. Well, he supposed he could have rested, but he was too nice. His allies wanted to meet up and he'd decided to oblige them. Apparently they even wanted another practice battle, an idea proposed by Masayuki, but agreed upon by the other two.

"Don't you think it's a little too soon? I mean, we just had _real _fights," Sukaime commented.

"Maybe Namiji and Ikki feel left out. They didn't get to fight." Benitsubasa shrugged nonchalantly. When they arrived, Benitsubasa looked surprised that the first ones there were Avaron and Masukagami. "What's this? You're not just on time, but early? Did your house burn down or something?"

"What does that have to do with being early?" Oriha asked incredulously.

"Well, aren't you the one who said something about being ten minutes early so you're never late?" Masukagami replies. "You never did say who told you that. Was it you, Madoka?"

"Nope." Madoka shrugged helplessly. He wondered though. It seemed like a small thing, but who _had_ told her that? It would have been easy for her to say her tuner had taught her that, but she had just shut down when Masukagami had asked. He knew now though that Benitsubasa only knew two other people, at least before running away. He doubted it had been Shijime, so that only left the human girl Benitsubasa had once been friends with. That would certainly warrant Benitsubasa acting the way she did. Even now, her mood had immediately soured when Masukagami had mentioned it.

"N-none of your business," Benitsubasa grumbled in response to Masukagami.

"So, while they have fun and we're waiting for the others, can I talk to you?" Avaron walked over to him. "Alone."

"Uhh." Madoka shrank back nervously. "S-sure?" He'd already fallen for that twice, and she'd caught him off guard with a kiss just as many times. Of course if he rejected her everyone else would wonder why. Besides, they were past that... right?

"Don't worry, I already said I forgive you. Besides, I have my head on straight at the moment. You're quite safe," she whispered and winked at him playfully.

"Lead the way," Madoka said. If only she wasn't so unpredictable, he'd feel a lot better. He trusted her as an ally, but as someone to have secret conversations with? Not so much. "I'll be right back," he called out to his sekirei. Benitsubasa looked suspicious as expected, but Sukaime just waved.

Avaron found a bench for them to sit on and looked at him quietly for a moment. A long moment. An awkward moment.

"Uh-"

"I need to thank you," Avaron said. "You did the right thing."

"Wha-?"

"You told me to figure things out with Masukagami, so I did. I'm happy now, so thank you," she explained. Now it made sense why she seemed so collected lately.

"Oh, uh, you're welcome."

"But I do have a question," Avaron said. "There was that one moment when you started to give in. What was that?" Had she really been paying that much attention?

"Oh... that." Madoka knew exactly what she was talking about. "It was what you said. Part of me thought you might be right."

"But _you_ were. Not me. Also, you said you weren't easy. What did you mean?" She'd just said he was right, so why was she asking what he'd meant? How could she think that if she had to ask?

"My sekirei. Picking you would have caused the same problems I'd have had if I picked one over the other, except then all of them would have gotten hurt," Madoka muttered.

"I don't know what I was suggesting. There was no easy way out." Avaron looked up at the sky. "I have a sekirei too after all. Running away from her wasn't fixing anything. And besides..." Suddenly Avaron leaned towards him, face very close to his. "Even if I wasn't an ashikabi, I'm not exactly normal. I think you understand that by now," she whispered almost seductively, but then grinned and giggled, pulling away. "You just made a lovely face by the way."

"Glad you're enjoying yourself," Madoka hunched over, trying to hide his face.

"Do you resent them?" Avaron asked out of the blue.

"What?"

"Do you resent your sekirei? You said that picking me over them was no better. It doesn't matter what I am: ashikabi, normal, abnormal. They're bound to you, but do you ever feel like you're tied down and trapped? Do you resent the fact that they exist?" Avaron's face was suddenly serious, even dark. She stared into his eyes, a look that pierced into him and made him shiver.

"The fact that they... exist?" Madoka repeated to himself. How could he resent someone's existence? But wasn't she right? Wasn't he trapped? As long as he had Benitsubasa, or any of them, he'd never be able to peacefully find someone. He could never have a normal relationship. In effect, his options had been forcefully whittled down to four. "Why are you saying this?" he asked her, voice shaking.

"Because I'm curious," Avaron said simply. "I want to know what you're feeling. Or maybe I'm just bored."

"So you're using me for your entertainment?" Madoka glared at her. She just laughed.

"Maybe I resent _you_ a little. I'm thankful, but you _did_ reject me," she smiled, but it was a predatory smile. And then it was gone, becoming a more pleasant one. "But mostly thankful. You need to think about this, don't you? I'm just giving you a little push."

"I... you..." Madoka stuttered. She was right, wasn't she? He couldn't ignore the problem forever. It was going to eat away at him until there was nothing left unless he figured out what he wanted to do.

"I'm going to tell you the truth about me. I'm broken, you saw it for yourself." Avaron's expression was blank. "When I first met Masukagami she was just a toy that I felt so lucky to have found. I didn't understand what I'd been given. She was lovely in every way; the perfect ornament to attach to myself. But she loved me, she had feelings that hinged on me. It was safer for her to leave me alone, but she couldn't – she wouldn't. I made her cry so many times it wasn't worth keeping count. I couldn't stop it until I gave into her completely. So, do you want to know the result of giving in?"

"Wh-what?"

"I've never been happier. It's the same for her. We're both girls, and I still find that strange, but if the kind of love she wants can exist in me... I'll find it. I already love her, and I'll find every way to love her that I possibly can. The fear, the confusion, it's all gone now." Avaron was practically glowing as she spoke. She radiated serenity. He'd never seen anything like it. "Think about it, OK? I hope it helps you the way you helped me."

"Me too," Madoka whispered to himself. That was great for Avaron, just giving in and being happy. But she only had Masukagami; a nice, easy, one-way street. He was stuck in the middle of a four-way intersection. One wrong move and it would be a mess.

"Oh, but you never answered my question," Avaron reminded him. "Do you resent them?" Madoka didn't answer right away. All the trouble his sekirei had caused him. All the stress and sleepless nights, constantly fretting and feeling derailed from his normal life. Who wouldn't resent them, everything they'd put him through.

"Not at all. They're the best thing to ever happen to me," Madoka said with absolute certainty. "Keep that to yourself though. It'll go to their heads."

"Of course." Avaron nodded. "Someday they need to know how you feel though."

"I know. It's just hard," Madoka said. "But hey, thanks. Honestly, everyone says you're weird, and I have to agree, but you're a good friend."

"It's OK. You're weird too!" Avaron smiled warmly, if mischievously. "And there's no need to thank me. You've helped me too. Like you said, we're friends. I'm sorry I almost ruined it in the past."

"Not as bad as I almost did." Madoka laughed weakly.

"Well, neither of us actually did, so let's just try to avoid those kinds of things in the future," Avaron said pleasantly. She must have been serious about forgiving him. That put him at ease, finally; her calmness putting to rest _his_ doubts. "We should get back to our sekirei now, lest they get suspicious the one time they have no reason to." She giggled.

**. . .**

To say she wasn't suspicious about what Madoka and Avaron were talking about would have been a lie, but something else was bothering Oriha at the moment. She stared and stared at Masukagami, but she couldn't make a tiny feeling in the back of her head go away.

"Hey, what's your number?" Oriha asked Masukagami. This got everyone's attention. "I just realized that I've never heard it."

"Huh, me neither," Benitsubasa chimed in.

"Wait, haven't you known her the longest?" Sukaime asked.

"So? She never gave me her number. We never really fought."

"You're right. She never introduced herself to Namiji either. She just kinda jumped in," Sukaime said ponderously.

"Why are you suddenly so curious?" Masukagami looked nervous.

"Because... err, well... because..." Oriha stared intensely at her.

"Come now, Oriha-chan, you must have a good reason to wonder." Masukagami smiled. "But do I really need to tell you? Why don't you just guess?"

"Guess? How the hell are we supposed to guess?" Benitsubasa scoffed.

"Not you. Me. She wants _me_ to guess," Oriha responded slowly. A realization was slowly dawning on her. "You're like me... n-number one-oh-two?"

"Bingo!" Masukagami smiled almost shyly. "So you finally recognized me, huh?"

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?" Oriha suddenly screeched at the top of her lungs. "YOU _KNEW?_"

"Well of course. You haven't changed at all, Oriha-chan."

"Wait, you know each other?" Sukaime looked dumbstruck.

"We were in the same damn batch and she didn't say anything!" Oriha shouted, and then glared back at Masukagami. "_Why? _Why didn't you say anything?"

"Well," Masukagami hesitated. "You didn't say anything either. At first I thought you were ignoring me on purpose because we had different ashikabi, but after a while I figured you just didn't know who I was. At that point it was just too awkward to speak up."

"Well how was I supposed to know? You're completely different! Your hair has ribbons now, a-and your outfit is completely ridiculous, and you... WHY DID YOU SAY YOUR NAME WAS KAGAMI? You didn't give us your full name back then!"

"Wait. You knew that much of her name and you couldn't just figure it out yourself?" Sukaime stared at her deadpan.

"And people say I'm stupid." Benitsubasa shared Sukaime's expression.

"Oh go to hell," Oriha hissed.

"My tuner always said my name was annoying to pronounce. H-he was foreign." Masukagami fidgeted. "He said Kagami was easier and it became a habit."

"And everything else?" Oriha crossed her arms. Masukagami nodded.

"The clothes and ribbons were his gift before I left to find my ashikabi."

"But when did you get so _tall!_ We used to be the same height!" Oriha exclaimed. Masukagami had at least half a foot on her now.

"Pfffffft!" She heard Sukaime miserably failing to hold in her laughter. Oriha did her best to ignore it.

"Ha." Benitsubasa crossed her arms.

"You're still short." Sukaime smirked at her.

"Taller than you."

"Cocky are we?" Sukaime cocked her eyebrow.

"Wait a minute!" Benitsubasa suddenly shouted, breaking from her banter with Sukaime. "If you're one-oh-one, then that means you probably had one-hundred in your batch!" She pointed at Oriha.

"Oh yeah, Shinjuryo! I remember her! You've met her?" Masukagami looked almost excited.

"Met her? I want to fucking kill her! I hate her! She sucks!" Benitsubasa fumed.

"What?" Masukagami looked horrified.

"She's on the disciplinary squad. She beat Benitsubasa to within an inch of her life," Oriha spoke, quite amused as she did.

"The disciplinary squad?" Masukagami looked upset to hear this.

"Yeah." The amusement left Oriha's voice.

"But she used to be so cool!" Masukagami whined.

"Now that I think about it, so is Heiwamori!" Oriha exclaimed. "That's two of our batch!"

"Did you have one-oh-four too?" Sukaime asked. Both of them shook their heads. "Th-then that means you did!" Sukaime rounded on Benitsubasa.

"So? I barely knew her. I think she shrugged at me once, that's it," Benitsubasa said with a shrug of her own.

"Really? Our batch talked a lot! We even convinced our tuners to let us meet outside of the MBI building once!" Masukagami said. "They never let us do it again though."

"And you seriously didn't recognize her?" Sukaime scowled disbelievingly at Oriha.

"Get over it!" Oriha growled. If they teased her about that one more time she was going to snap. She was having a hard enough time getting over it herself.

"What about your batch Sukaime?" Masukagami asked.

"Err, I... uhhh," Sukaime mumbled nervously. They all stared at her expectantly until she broke down. "I didn't have one, all right?" Sukaime blurted out, earning a triple double-take from all of them.

"I can't tell if that makes you special, or just a loser," Benitsubasa commented.

"Maybe only the one-hundreds had batches?" Oriha guessed. It was the only thing they had in common that Sukaime lacked.

"No, I had one too. There were eight of us." Kaie finally entered the conversation. "Though, I don't think we ever got quite so friendly."

"Oh." Everyone went quiet. No one seemed to know how to react to Sukaime not having been part of a batch.

"So, you saw Heiwamori-kun?" Masukagami turned her attention back on Oriha.

**. . .**

Sukaime was glad that they weren't staring at her like she had three heads anymore, but she was confused now. She'd never been part of a batch, and in fact she hadn't even known batches were a thing. She felt a little left out.

She decided to distract herself from that line of thought by watching Oriha chat with Masukagami. It was a little funny.

"Wow," Sukaime mumbled.

"Are they... gossiping?" Benitsubasa asked.

"Like I said, wow." Sukaime shook her head. This from Oriha who was usually right there with Benitsubasa asking for the death of every other sekirei they met.

"This is bullshit."

"Why don't we gossip?" Sukaime glanced at Benitsubasa.

"We _live_ together, what do we have to gossip about?" Benitsubasa frowned.

"Madoka-kun?"

"Maybe..."

"Wanna try?" Sukaime suggested, but Benitsubasa just shifted her weight awkwardly. "Well go on!"

"You're the one who talks!" Benitsubasa snapped.

"Right. So... wanna watch TV when we get home?" Sukaime changed the subject.

"Sure." Benitsubasa agreed quietly. So much for gossip.

**. . .**

Finally Madoka returned and Masayuki and Kouji arrived as well. With everyone present, they were once again off to the warehouses. Upon arriving, Sukaime got nervous. It was an unexpected and, as far as she could tell, unwarranted feeling. What reason could she possibly have? Was she just afraid to lose and look stupid again? No, she was fairly certain that wasn't it.

But, with what she'd told Madoka, could she be certain it was her own feelings? And if not her own then whose and why? To affect her this much when she wasn't trying to read anyone, normally it would have to be Madoka, but she wouldn't be left wondering in that case. She'd recognize if it was him.

"So if we're doing this, I want a rematch!" Benitsubasa demanded.

"What? Think you can take Masukagami now? She's like a genius commando," Sukaime teased, doing her best to act normal.

"Th-that's a bit much," Masukagami laughed nervously.

"Don't sell yourself short. What you did was very impressive on many fronts. I can't see myself succeeding the way you did," Namiji countered. "Which is why, since it's a rematch, I'm glad I'm on your side."

"Oh right, I got my ass kicked last time too," Sukaime muttered flatly.

"Ugh, are you seriously leaving me out _again_?" Oriha grumbled.

"Haven't you _had_ your fun?" Sukaime asked.

"Well, technically we have plenty of sekirei present to give her a chance as well. Why not make it a three-on-three?" Masayuki suggested.

"Ha, all three of our sekirei against Madoka's? It's over!" Kouji laughed.

"That's it, we're doing this." Benitsubasa narrowed her eyes.

"Oh yeah." Sukaime cracked her knuckles.

"What the hell is over?" Oriha glared at Kouji.

"Th-they seem quite eager," Masukagami commented nervously.

"Good job Kouji, now they're angry." Namiji sighed.

"S-sorry." Kouji shrank back sheepishly.

"Are you up for it, Ikki?" Masayuki asked his sekirei.

"Yes, of course." She stepped forward.

"Good luck, Masukagami," Avaron said.

"All right, let's show them how much better you've all gotten." Madoka grinned. They all nodded, but Sukaime was hesitant. Oriha had definitely changed, and Benitsubasa too. Herself though? She didn't think so.

"_Well then, let's try improving right now!"_ Sukaime thought to herself. If those two could do it, why couldn't she? "So, we meet again, dear Namiji." Sukaime faced off against the halberd wielding sekirei.

"Are you going to say something like 'it will be different this time,' or shall we just get started?" Namiji asked.

"Hey! What's wrong with a few clichés every now and then?" Sukaime frowned. "But sure, let's go!" And with the talking over, she flung her javelin at Namiji. Her jaw dropped when Namiji didn't just knock it out of the air, but struck it so hard it went tumbling into the distance. "Oh dear…"

**. . .**

As Sukaime began he fight with Namiji, Benitsubasa began hers with Masukagami.

"Good luck!" Masukagami stated.

"Won't need it," Benitsubasa retorted. Masukagami frowned and pulled out her large mirror. In a flash, she vanished from sight, but Benitsubasa knew exactly what to expect. "Too easy!" She turned in time to see Masukagami behind her, swinging her large mirror at Benitsubasa. Benitsubasa jumped, placing her hand on the back of the mirror and vaulting over it. As she did, she kicked out, striking Masukagami in the chest and knocking the girl off her feet.

"Good job," Masukagami said, her voice expressing a little pain from the impact to her chest.

"Don't patronize me. Get up and give me a challenge!" Benitsubasa shouted. Masukagami frowned at Benitsubasa's stinging words.

"Very well." Masukagami aimed her large mirror again and once more disappeared. Benitsubasa scoffed, why was she pulling the same trick that had just failed? She spun around, but once again, Masukagami disappeared. Benitsubasa growled and spun back around, this time leading with a back-fist. Her fist collided with Masukagami's palm-mirror and bounced off.

It was at this point she realized her mistake. With her momentum canceled, she was left with her body twisted and off balance. Masukagami kicked her ankle, pushing her foot out from under her and leaving her on the verge of collapse. When Masukagami's palm mirror struck the side of her head, she received the full force of her own punch and was dropped off her feet.

"Dammit," Benitsubasa groaned dazedly. Why was this happening again? Why was Masukagami so difficult to fight? She wasn't even that strong unless she stole someone else's powers! It was like fighting herself and someone else at the same time. Well, she supposed that explained why fighting her was so hard.

**. . .**

Sukaime had retrieved her javelin, and then lost it again, and then just barely retrieved it once more. She swore that Namiji was doing baseball practice with Sukaime's weapon as the ball. Namiji's strategy was working though, as Sukaime couldn't fight especially well when her weapon was 50 feet away and tumbling out of control.

Sukaime had taken to simply trying to dodge Namiji while keeping her weapon in hand to block. She wasn't going to win like that though. She had to think of something fast. That thinking was put on hold as Namiji caught up with her. Her ankle was hooked by the back of Namiji's weapon, tripping her and bringing her down to a knee. Sukaime raised her weapon above herself to block Namiji's follow up downswing. The force was crushing, driving Sukaime onto her back and knocking her javelin out of her hands.

It took everything in her to keep moving, knowing that it was over if Namiji pinned her. She rolled away and called her javelin back, using the weapons momentum to pull herself back to her feet.

"Hey! Beni! How badly do you want to win this?" Sukaime shouted, an idea beginning to form. She just hoped Benitsubasa didn't derail it with her next few words.

"Very!" Benitsubasa yelled back impatiently.

"Then…" Sukaime sprinted in her direction, Namiji hot on her heels. "SWITCH!"

"What?" Benitsubasa spun her head in Sukaime's direction. Not quite what Sukaime had been hoping for, but then realization dawned on Benitsubasa's face at the last second. "Oh, fine!" In a surprising display of coordination, especially so since there had been no planning beforehand, Benitsubasa planted her feet and ducked, letting Sukaime vault over her shoulder.

Sukaime used the momentum from her vault to help drive her javelin down toward Masukagami. Masukagami raised her mirror to block, sending the javelin spiraling away, but as Sukaime landed, she slid between Masukagami's legs and came up behind her.

**. . .**

As Sukaime went over her shoulder, Benitsubasa kept herself low and charged at Namiji as the other sekirei's halberd sailed over her head, missing by barely an inch. With the danger momentarily past, Benitsubasa rose up fist first and landed punch square on Namiji's jawline. Before she could continue, she heard Sukaime's voice call out.

"AGAIN!" It seemed a little sudden to change opponents again, but she went for it. She turned back in time to see Sukaime ram her shoulder into Masukagami's back. Benitsubasa saw a perfect opportunity, and shot her foot out into Masukagami's face, causing her to fall backward, over Sukaime, and crash back down to the ground.

**. . .**

When Masukagami had blocked her javelin, the weapon had sailed backwards over Namiji's head. She knew exactly what her next, game ending move was. She called it back, making it fly low and orienting it so that the long end careened into the back of Namiji's legs, taking out her feet and dropping her to the ground. Sukaime was ready to pounce, but at the last second had a inkling that it would be a bad idea. Instead, she simply drove her javelin at Namiji, and as she expected, the other girl spun her halberd above herself knocking it away. That would have been her if she'd pounced.

As Sukaime did her best to recall her javelin Namiji flipped to her feet. She kept her stance low and moved to dash in before Sukaime's javelin could return. In that case, there was only one thing to do.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa had an epiphany of sorts. She realized that Masukagami had two weaknesses. The first was that if Benitsubasa's back wasn't exposed she couldn't engage her, and two Masukagami was too nice too attack Benitsubasa with Sukaime's javelin as the memorized attack. That kind of attack could cause serious injuries. Masukagami couldn't fight back anymore.

Benitsubasa jumped at her opponent and Masukagami preemptively raised her palm-mirror to block, but Benitsubasa juked away from it, instead ducking past and jabbing her in the stomach. Masukagami stumbled away, trying to keep her mirror between the two, but Benitsubasa knew how to fight her now. It might have been cheap and unrealistic, as in a real fight Masukagami would have quite readily attacked her with whatever ability her mirror had remembered, but if she avoided the mirror anyway what did it matter?

She got past Masukagami's defenses again and elbowed her in the side of the head. Masukagami lost her balance, but as she fell she went into a roll and came back to a knee, mirror once again at the ready. Before she could attack again though, she suddenly felt something bump into her. Somehow, she immediately knew it was Sukaime.

"Really?" Benitsubasa sighed. Instead of a response, Sukaime quickly jabbed her in the ribs with her elbow. It wasn't enough to hurt, but Benitsubasa got the idea. She linked arms with Sukaime and the two quickly swapped positions. The whole exchange lasted barely more than a second.

As Benitsubasa came around, she saw Namiji charging, halberd stabbing forward. As Sukaime swung her forward Benitsubasa used the momentum to launch roundhouse kick that knocked the weapon aside. She unlinked her arm from Sukaime's and used her continuing momentum to twist around and launch another kick at Namiji's face, hitting home and knocking the girl back.

She turned around and saw Sukaime bring her javelin around in a wide arc, buzzing past Masukagami's head and forcing her to duck. Sukaime then held out her hand and Benitsubasa took it, and they once again switched opponents, with Sukaime pulling her and launching her at Masukagami full tilt.

Masukagami's eyes went wide and Benitsubasa bull rushed her, ducking low and spearing her in the gut with her shoulder. She lifted her off the ground and tossed her behind her. As Masukagami crashed to the ground, Benitsubasa turned around and raised her leg for an ax kick. Her foot landed an inch from Masukagami's head, and she fell to a knee, fist hovering over Masukagami's face.

"Game over," Benitsubasa announced.

**. . .**

As Benitsubasa and Sukaime swapped for the last time, Sukaime's javelin continued it's arc. After buzzing by Masukagami, it flew in for the "kill" on Namiji. She hadn't had time to recover from Benitsubasa's kick, and as she regained her balance, she found herself with Sukaime's javelin hovering before her throat. She froze up, and pulled back, not wanting to trip and fall upon the weapon herself.

"Looks like we win!" Sukaime grinned. _"My god, we actually won..."_

"About time! I've been done over here for the last five minutes!" Sukaime immediately frowned. She looked to her right to see Oriha sitting on top of Ikki, looking bored.

"Did she use her chakram as handcuffs?" Namiji stared, jaw agape.

"I-I believe so." Sukaime raised an eyebrow. "Heh, kinky."

"Yep, you're still disgusting." Benitsubasa walked over to her.

"Hey, just because I'm not as cute as _you_ doesn't make me disgusting!" Sukaime scowled, crossing her arms.

"Are you ever-"

"Gonna stop flirting with you? No." Sukaime told her bluntly.

"Ugh, whatever. Oriha's starting to get annoying. At this rate she's going to get a superiority complex," Benitsubasa complained.

"My my, such big words! I'm so proud!" Sukaime couldn't resist the easy shot.

"Of course, if it was a competition, you'd still win." Benitsubasa glared.

**. . .**

"OK, Oriha, you can get off her now," Madoka told her.

"Aww, she's comfy!" Oriha smirked.

"Really? I wanna feel!" Sukaime began staring at Ikki's rear which Oriha was currently using as a cushion.

"Wh-what?" Ikki replied timidly.

"Don't worry, she just wants to grope you," Benitsubasa explained flatly.

"Ah, my plans revealed..." Sukaime grinned lecherously.

"I think _that's_ what she was worried about." Madoka pinched the bridge of his nose. "Now seriously, let her go."

"Here." Masayuki walked over and held his hand out to his sekirei as Oriha climbed off and removed the chakram that she'd trapped Ikki's wrists with. "Now, with that over, there's only one question left."

"Which is?" Avaron asked him.

"Well, we know Kaie can beat Ikki and Namiji, and we know that Madoka's other sekirei can do the same, as well as defeating Masukagami We can thus assume that Madoka's sekirei are the strongest of our group."

"Well, I guess." Kouji nodded. He looked a little stung by the fact though.

"So, which one of his sekirei is the strongest?" Masayuki queried.

"Me, obviously!" Benitsubasa claimed instantly.

"You're certainly a contender, but I believe Kaie's accomplishments currently match yours. In fact they may surpass yours. She beat both Namiji and Ikki without help."

"Hey, what are you trying to do?" Madoka suddenly got worried. He'd been doing his best to keep his sekirei from fighting.

"Well, wouldn't it be interesting to know?"

"I'm up for it." Benitsubasa punched her palm. "That fight just warmed me up."

"But Beni dearest! You might bruise me!" Sukaime gasped.

"What? I'm not fighting you! I already know I can beat you!" Benitsubasa scoffed.

"Hey, we don't _know_ that!" Sukaime frowned. "Well, OK fine, maybe." She sighed.

"Wait, wait, you're _not_ fighting each other!" Madoka really didn't like that idea.

"So it's OK for them to beat on my precious Masukagami, but not on each other?" Avaron tilted her head.

"Err, w-well," Madoka stuttered nervously.

"Hey, it'll be fine! We won't kill each other!" Sukaime assured him.

"Wait, you're _for _this?" Madoka looked at her in shock.

"Well, I know Benitsubasa is. And the key to any happy relationship is making sure your partner is happy!"

"Why? Every time-" Benitsubasa's eyebrow twitched vexedly.

"You love it." Sukaime winked.

"No..." Benitsubasa sighed. "But she's right."

"Oh my-" Madoka's face fell into his palm. Ways out of this fight were rapidly closing off. "Kaie?" The girl who was at the heart of this had been strangely silent.

"Sure." Madoka nearly fell over at her response. "In fact, since everyone has such a high opinion of me, why don't I just fight all three of them at once? Let's see if I hold up."

"You shouldn't get so cocky around me." Benitsubasa suddenly reverted to her habit of sticking her tongue out challengingly.

"You certainly shouldn't either." Kaie faced her down. Madoka was getting nervous, they were way too riled up. This could get messy.

* * *

><p><strong>To be continued...<strong>

**Next time, on Violent Hearts... MAN SCREW PREVIEWS! You'll just have to wait a tad bit longer. The next chapter will be released on a Sunday around noon (Eastern Time) like I used to, I just released this one right away because I felt bad for making y'all wait so long.**

**That said, I might release a chunk of the next part on my tumblr (there's 2 links on my profile page) for those who are super impatient and actually like previews and stuff.  
><strong>

**Til' next time! (No, seriously, there'll be a next time I swear!)**


	32. I Hate Doubt a Lot

**Here's part two! I decided to post it a little earlier to make up for taking so long.**

* * *

><p><strong>I Hate Doubt a Lot<strong>

With the way Benitsubasa and Kaie looked at each other, one could have forgotten that Sukaime and Ohiha were going to fight as well.

"Hey, hey, we're here too!" Sukaime didn't want to be left out. Maybe this would be her chance to finally look cool.

"Can we begin?" Kaie asked. The edge of Sukaime's mouth began to twitch, trying to hide the onset of an aggravated frown. She felt totally ignored.

"Yeah, I guess," Madoka replied hesitantly. Sukaime didn't know why he was so opposed. It was just a practice fight, right? No one would even bleed... excessively. That was what she thought until that overwhelming feeling of anxiety began to pour over her again. What was wrong with her?

"Then let's go!" Benitsubasa cracked her knuckles and then lowered herself into a ready stance. Kaie did something that Sukaime thought was a little out of character for her at that moment. She smirked. When Kaie flew into action Sukaime was caught totally off guard. She was under attack and it was Benitsubasa who was being ignored.

She barely had any time to react, launching her javelin at Kaie in a desperate attempt to stop her. It failed about as miserably as it possibly could have. Kaie dodged to the side and caught the javelin with her whips. The javelin pulled the whips taught and then Kaie swung it around, using the javelin as a weight and the whips as a trip wire.

The whips struck Sukaime's ankles, taking her legs out from under her, and the next thing she knew Kaie swung the javelin into the ground next to Sukaime's head, cracking the pavement as she did so.

"Dead," Kaie said and turned away.

"A-already?" Sukaime's eyes went wide. What was worse was she'd been "killed" with her own weapon. If Kaie had been serious her skull would have been popped like an overripe grape. Kaie's whips uncoiled from the javelin, leaving it sticking out of the ground like Sukaime's grave marker as she went off to face her two remaining opponents.

Thus Sukaime was left to slink off and observe. She didn't return to Madoka though. She wasn't sure why. Instead she went to Ikki of all people, plopping down beside the girl.

"Um..." Ikki glanced at her.

"Sit down! I'm lonely!" Sukaime snapped like an upset child. The upset part was true enough.

"O-OK." Ikki obeyed, startled and confused into submission. "S-so-"

"Ah, I just thought I'd join you in the loser's corner. AKA the 'we got stomped by Kaie' club," Sukaime said to her. "I suppose we could have Namiji join us, but she's too cool and collected. She'd never fit in with a couple of useless lumps like us."

"I-I..." Ikki was starting to look depressed.

"Don't look too down, you lasted longer against Kaie than I did." Sukaime jabbed her playfully in the shoulder.

"I don't know," Ikki managed to say her first full, if rather short, sentence.

"Eh?"

"She caught you off guard. She pretended to focus on Benitsubasa then she went after you who looked distracted," Ikki told her. "In a real sekirei fight that wouldn't have happened, you would have been able to focus on her better. You wouldn't have had a choice since you would have known she would target you."

"Pfft, lame right? Me of all people being surprised." Sukaime sighed and flopped onto her back. "There's no excuse. Real fight or not."

"What do you mean you of all people?"

"Eh. I'm the obnoxious one who see's through everyone's crap and calls them on it. I shouldn't be caught off guard by silly tricks like that." Sukaime grit her teeth. "I just can't make myself useful in a fight to save my life. Even when I 'beat' Namiji today all I really did was help Benitsubasa win the fight for me."

"That's the unfairness of this game. There's an overwhelming gap between those sekirei who are strong and those who aren't. In the end, it's almost completely insurmountable." It appeared Ikki had remembered how to talk. It was probably the most Sukaime had ever seen her speak. It was kind of nice really. The subject matter could have been more pleasant though.

"Yeah. You're right." Sukaime's face gained a shaky smile. "At this point in the game, how many weak do you think are left?"

"Not many." Ikki shrugged.

"You know what that means right? How much longer can people like us scrape by? How much longer til' we meet someone we just can't fight. Til' we're just totally outclassed?" She sighed. "I shouldn't even be alive at this point if you ask me."

"I-"

"Ah, sorry. I guess that would kind of apply to you too, huh?" Sukaime chuckled. "Don't think about it too much, it sucks. That's what little alliances like this are for though. We get to hitch a ride on the strong."

"Y-yeah," Ikki mumbled back.

"I hate it." Sukaime's expression turned sour. "I don't want to be weak. I want to be useful!"

"It's not so bad, is it?" Ikki asked. "Think of the alternative. At least this way you get to cling on a little longer and be around everyone else. The longer you're alive, the more chances you get. You're not... useful at all if you're dead." Ikki smiled suddenly. She looked much cuter when she smiled, compared to her usual blank gaze. "You're lucky. Your ashikabi is the cause of this. He's... kind, better than m-... most. Don't be in such a rush to be taken away."

"Hey!" Sukaime shot back up to a sitting position. "I'm not in a rush to do anything!" She frowned deeply and looked away. "Ah, but you're right aren't you?" She looked back at Ikki. "I guess I'll just have to keep clinging and waiting for my chance, huh?"

"Of course." Ikki smiled again.

"Then you too!" Sukaime grinned, pointing at Ikki. "Hm, let's shake on it!" She opened up her hand.

"I... I'll do my best." Ikki reached out.

"I couldn't help but overhear. Finally making friends are we?" Masayuki stepped over, looking down at his sekirei.

"I... yes, I suppose." Ikki's hand recoiled from Sukaime's, caught off guard by her ashikabi's arrival.

"Hmm." Masayuki paused for a moment. "Good!"

Sukaime froze. That feeling again. It couldn't be, but sitting so close to her, what else could she think? Ikki? Sukaime had no way of knowing, but she knew one thing for sure – Ikki wasn't smiling anymore.

**-Meanwhile-**

Benitsubasa's eye twitched. That had been laughably quick. Sukaime had been steamrolled like she was nothing. She was pretty sure that hadn't even allowed Kaie to warm up. Apparently Kaie didn't _need_ to warm up in order to humiliate Sukaime.

"Fantastic," Benitsubasa muttered under her breath. This time Kaie would have to get past her to attack anyone else, so there would be no more surprises. And as expected, Kaie rushed straight at her. Expected, and yet confusing. What she hadn't expected was for Kaie, a ranged type, to make such an aggressive advance. If she got too close, she'd be giving away her advantage!

Well, if Kaie wanted to get cocky, Benitsubasa would just punish her. She cocked her fist back, but then hesitated as Kaie ducked low. She tried to adjust her aim when she realized Kaie was trying to duck past her completely. She tried to kick at her, but it was too late and Kaie slipped past. All she really managed to do was stick her leg out to be grabbed by Kaie's whips.

"Crap..." Benitsubasa groaned just before Kaie tripped her with a quick tug of her whips. Her head snapped back as she fell, striking the pavement as it did. She moaned painfully, dazed by the impact. By the time she pushed herself to a sitting position, which really didn't take very long, Kaie was already attacking Oriha.

She was in time to see Oriha create a shield by linking her chakram, but Kaie wasn't perturbed even momentarily. She shot her whips forward, and while some bounced off, the rest went through the holes in Oriha's chakram. The whips struck Oriha, not hurting her so much as they caught her off guard and made her lose focus. As she stumbled in surprise, Kaie shot around the shield and wrapped her whips around Oriha's neck, pulling her to the ground and stepping on her chest.

"Dead," Kaie once more announced. Oriha just stared at her in wide-eyed shock.

"You done showing off?" Benitsubasa grumbled as she got back to her feet. "Just you and me now. Is this what you wanted?"

"No. It's just not safe to fight you while two ranged opponents can take shots at me as they please. It was a tactical decision." Kaie shrugged. "An obvious decision." Kaie's response struck a nerve. Benitsubasa felt like Kaie wasn't taking her seriously. No, she knew for sure that Kaie wasn't. Kaie was toying with them and making it look easy.

"It's not safe to fight me, period! Now come on!" Benitsubasa gestured for Kaie to come at her.

"Very well." Kaie narrowed her eyes and darted forward. She swiped with her whips, but Benitsubasa leaned back, avoiding them by a hair's breadth. Another swipe went towards her legs, but she jumped over that, avoiding it as well. At that moment, Kaie suddenly spun violently and struck out with her whips. Just before Benitsubasa's feet could touch the ground she was knocked back, landing instead on her rear.

As she got up, she tenderly rubbed the stinging spot on her stomach where she'd been struck. This was going to be annoying. Kaie had much more reach and she was fast. She didn't have time to lament the fact that this was going to be a frustrating battle, however, as Kaie was already pressuring her again. She slipped to the side as Kaie's whips ripped up the pavement where she'd just been. Benitsubasa dashed forward in an attempt to return the pressure, but had to immediately hop back as Kaie's whips raked through the air before her.

How was she going to get close? That was the question Benitsubasa was running through her mind. It was her primary concern, the one thing she needed to win. Even thinking wasn't easy though, as she had to lean away from another whip strike that cracked inches from the side of her head. If she'd been any slower, it would have _been_ her head.

But she had been fast enough, hadn't she? Why was she bothering to think? She knew what she had to do. She just had to see and then react. Those weren't things that required thinking, not for her. She was going to win.

She moved forward. Kaie of course tried what had worked before, but with the smallest movement she could get away with, Benitsubasa ducked around Kaie's defensive strike. She saw concern start to appear on Kaie's face already. Kaie swung again, but again Benitsubasa darted right past the attack. That was all Kaie could afford, now Benitsubasa was in range. Benitsubasa didn't relax yet though, she knew Kaie wouldn't break that easily.

"Razor Circus!" Kaie pulled her whips in close and spun around. Benitsubasa had seen it coming though, she pulled back and jumped, letting the attack spin out harmlessly. What she hadn't seen coming was Kaie reacting perfectly to that. Using the last bit of momentum from spinning, she lashed out before Benitsubasa could regain her footing.

She couldn't take that hit. It wouldn't finish her, but if she took it she'd have to start all over again.

"No!" Benitsubasa shouted. She swung her arm with all her might, striking at the whips themselves with the back of her hand. Somehow, with power she hadn't known she possessed, she'd forced the whips away. She didn't even feel them, but saw the whips repelled by her hand. As she landed she also saw Kaie's eyes wide in shock. She knew her chance had finally come.

She leapt forward, fist reared back, and then landed a powerful, utterly satisfying blow right into Kaie's abdomen. She followed up with a push kick that left Kaie reeling and barely on her feet. Her next roundhouse kick took care of that, throwing Kaie to the ground.

Kaie wasn't finished though. As Benitsubasa stepped forward, seeking to finish the battle, Kaie lashed out from a kneeling position. Benitsubasa leaned out of the way, but noted that the whips had a little more "snap" to them than before.

Kaie took the chance to get back to her feet, and struck at her again. As Benitsubasa again leaned out of the way Kaie spun quickly to get her next shot off before Benitsubasa could close in. This time she jumped to the side to avoid the attack, but Kaie had already launched her next one before she could move again. Benitsubasa grit her teeth and threw her arms up in front of her to block, having no other choice at that point.

She felt a startlingly heavy blow as the whips hit her. This time it didn't sting, it _hurt_. She stumbled back, only to see another strike coming. She kept her arms crossed in front of her, trying to just absorb the next blow as well. Again, it hit like a sack of bricks, forcing her arms out of the way it did. She was thus defenseless and off-balance as Kaie crossed her arms and then lashed out with both sets of whips.

The full force of all Kaie's whips hitting her launched her off her feet and sent her crashing into the side of a warehouse. The wind knocked out of her, she slid to the ground and fell to a knee. She gasped for breath and struggled back to her feet, but Kaie had already charged back into range and was swinging again. The whips came down diagonally, seeking to rake across her. It wouldn't hit though, she knew Kaie was pull it short and just say that Benitsubasa was "dead."

Had she really lost? But what did it matter, it was just a training battle. Well, she was sure that was how Kaie saw it. Benitsubasa just clenched her jaw and threw her arm up. She knew no one had expected that. Why would she, who had seemingly lost, just take a hit like that which would only injure her? Why? Because in a real fight that's what she would have done. If she could do it, if she could "live" and win, then why not?

The whips lashed her arm, wrapping around it and cutting into her flesh. She just grabbed on and held them tightly, shoving the pain from her mind. She pulled as hard as she could, tugging Kaie closer and off-balance, and herself forward. She flew into Kaie, fist careening forth on a collision course for Kaie's face, carrying all her fury with it.

Benitsubasa halted barely a centimeter short, just drinking in the site of Kaie staring, in a cold sweat, at the fist that had nearly shattered her jaw.

"Dead." Benitsubasa grinned deviously. She then winced and let go of Kaie's whips. As the whips went slack and fell away, she could see how badly her arm had been torn up. Her glove had also been ripped and her fingertips were bloodied. She had no idea why, but those whips were damn sharp.

"I... concede," Kaie spoke quietly. The humiliation in her voice made the pain worth it.

"Are we done now?" Of all the people to rain on her parade, it had to be Madoka of course. The one person who actually could. He stomped over to her, a deep scowl on his face. Great, was he going to scold her now? Why? He could have stopped the fight if he'd really tried. Why yell at her now? "Show me," he spoke with a tired sigh.

She was confused until she realized he was staring at her arm. She offered it and he gently held it, only lightly touching her elbow and wrist were she wasn't cut up as much, up so he could look at it.

"You got hurt..." She could see him grinding his teeth. "That was dumb!" She just smiled.

"You're not angry," she said, giving him an almost challenging look, straight into his eyes.

"I'm furious," he grumbled. She just grinned and suddenly grabbed him with her good arm, pulling him close so she could bury her face in his chest.

"Just admit that I'm strong!" she half complained, half demanded. She felt that she had earned the right to do it, hugging him tightly like that. Better yet, she was doing it in front of Kaie. As she pulled away, she peeked around Madoka, catching Kaie's eye, and smirked victoriously. Kaie immediately huffed and averted her gaze.

"I won. I'm strong right? Your strongest?" It wasn't a question anymore, was it? Yet she had to ask it of him, to hear him say it. She wanted the acknowledgment, from him, that she was the best. His best.

"Yeah, you're crazy strong all right. And I'm pretty sure you're just plain crazy on top of it." Madoka shook his head, but she caught a flicker of amusement in his eyes. He hadn't really given her what she wanted, but she'd gotten enough to make her happy.

**. . .**

The fight was finally over, and Benitsubasa and Kaie were only a little worse for wear. Ironically, Benitsubasa was the worse off despite winning. Everything was fine. Sukaime let out a long breath; it seemed her worrying had been over nothing. Certainly they wouldn't have _another_ practice fight. Barring any ambushes on the way home, she doubted anything could go wrong. She couldn't predict the future though, so it wasn't like she could tell if that was going to happen. She doubted it though.

"We should probably tend to that arm of her's. Who lives closest to here?" Masayuki asked, referring to Benitsubasa. "I'm afraid my house is quite a distance."

"Uhh, I'm not too far. My parents should be at work, so no one will ask any questions," Kouji spoke up first.

"Heh, don't make this a habit. These girls go through bandages like a fat kid with a bag of chips. At least they usually heal fast enough that I don't have to change them," Madoka chuckled.

"Don't compare me to a fat kid." Benitsubasa shot Madoka an irritated look.

"You eat like one." Oriha grinned.

"Ooh, nice," Sukaime chuckled. "High five!"

"No." Oriha shot her down.

"Aww, come on! We totally could have had a moment just now!" Sukaime whined in frustration, puffing her cheeks out.

"You can both have a moment with my fist if you'd like," Benitsubasa growled, an angry vein pulsating in her forehead.

"I'll pass," Oriha waved the threat off, though she walked a little farther away from the angry sekirei. As her path took her toward Sukaime, she glanced between her and Benitsubasa, sighed, and then raised her hand, palm open.

"Yay!" Sukaime cheered and slapped her palm against Oriha's. Sure, she knew Oriha had only done it to spite Benitsubasa, but that just made it funny. Benitsubasa was always cutest when she was angry.

"Oh, you are so fucking dead!" Benitsubasa screeched.

"Hold up, the injured have to take it easy." Madoka grabbed Benitsubasa's shoulder before she could maul Sukaime and Oriha.

"Bu-"

"No buts. It was your idea to take that hit, so now you deal with it. Kouji, lead the way," Madoka looked to the other ashikabi.

"And please, take your time. The longer she's out of commission the more time she has to forget she wants to kill us!" Sukaime smiled sweetly at Kouji and then at Benitsubasa. Benitsubasa did not return the smile.

They found that Kouji's house was... sizable. It wasn't a rich person's mansion, but it was bigger than Madoka's little apartment sized dwelling. It was also bigger than his parents' house. Clearly Kouji's family did well enough.

"Wow, not bad. Heh, plenty of space so your parents don't overhear, am I right?" Sukaime grinned, glancing between Kouji and Namiji. Both of them turned a bright scarlet. "Ha! I _am_ right!"

"N-n-no! N-n-nothing like that, I swear!" Namiji swatted at Sukaime.

"Yet..." Sukaime didn't stop grinning, even as she fended off Namiji's flustered assault. The suggestion just turned her even redder.

"Shut up, pervert. I can't even claim I don't know you at this point!" Benitsubasa brought her fist down on Sukaime's head.

"I'm her best friend." Sukaime's grin was pretty much becoming permanently affixed at this point. Meanwhile, Benitsubasa looked positively murderous. Sukaime decided to take stock quickly. She'd won a practice fight, she'd gotten Ikki to talk to her, she'd gotten a high five from Oriha, and she'd successfully tormented Benitsubasa and Namiji without _really_ being mean to them. _'Best. Day. Ever.'_ She thought to herself. And yet the sinking feeling that had been haunting her all day suddenly came back. "B-best... day ever..." she muttered to herself weakly, as if trying to convince herself. "Pfft, maybe I should just grab someone's ass. I bet that'd cheer me up," she whispered.

"I heard that." Kaie glared at her suspiciously.

"Are you volunteering?" Sukaime asked cheerfully. "Yours is pretty ni-"

"Just... stop," Kaie's eye twitched with disgust.

Sukaime's lecherous habits aside, Kouji led them inside his house.

"The kitchen is that way. Sit Benitsubasa down and I'll get some bandages," Kouji told them and then ran up a staircase to the second floor. By the time he came back, Beitsubasa was sitting as asked, and everyone had assembled in the kitchen, which was just big enough to fit them all comfortably, though most of them had to stand.

"I'll take it from here. You'd probably lose a finger if you tried to touch her," Madoka told Kouji.

"Ah... right." Kouji laughed nervously, handed Madoka a first-aid kit, and quickly stepped back.

"Ugh, I'm not a rabid animal," Benitsubasa grumbled, blushing slightly. Sukaimed wished she had a camera to capture the moment.

"Most days..." Oriha rolled her eyes.

"High five again!" Sukaime chirped.

"Don't push your luck." Oriha scowled in return. Sukaime just stuck her tongue out and shrugged. It had been worth a shot.

In the end, Benitsubasa's wounds weren't that deep, so it didn't take Madoka long to wash and wrap her forearm.

"Thanks for letting us use your place, Kouji," Madoka said as he shut the first aid kit.

"No problem, you'd do the same, right?" Kouji shrugged.

At that moment, Masayuki stepped forward.

"While we're here, I have a request, Kouji. You won one of those jinki, yes? May I take a look? I haven't had a chance to see one up close as of yet," Masayuki asked. Suddenly, Sukaime felt very uneasy.

"Oh, uh, sure! Why not. I actually hid it down here. Sometimes my mom still goes through my stuff, so I don't keep it in my room." Kouji rubbed his neck nervously.

"Ha... porn," Sukaime said what she knew everyone was thinking.

"What?" Namiji's eyes went wide.

"Oh you poor, naïve soul." As Sukaime gave Namiji a pitying look, a cowering Kouji quickly scurried off and came back a few moments later with one of the numbered crystals in hand.

"May I?" Masayuki asked. Kouji nodded and handed it to him. "Strange... it's so small. Kind of underwhelming, really." He stared at it intently. It was kind of creepy.

"Ah, excuse me. C-can I use your bathroom," Kaie spoke up this time.

"Oh, yeah," Kouji said and gave her directions.

"Is that where you got the first-aid kit, I can put it back for you while I'm up there," Kaie offered.

"Yeah, just put it under the sink," Kouji told her.

"M-mind if I join you? Err, I mean I'd wait outside of course," Ikki said. Kaie just shrugged and grabbed the first-aid kit before heading up the stairs, Ikki behind her. Suddenly, another wave of unease slammed into Sukaime. She felt sick, barely able to keep her feet. It was a mixture of fear and despair. At first she tried to shrug it off, but then she felt one other thing that alarmed her. Resolution.

"Hey, uhh, me too! It's been a long day!" Sukaime turned and then walked quickly, almost jogging, to the stairs. She hurried to the top and saw Ikki waiting outside what must have been the bathroom. Sukaime heard the faint sound of a cabinet door being opened from within the bathroom.

She sighed, everything was normal. And then another wave hit her. She had to put a hand against the wall to brace herself. What the hell was going on? She was startled out of this by the sound of a door opening. She looked up. Kaie wasn't coming out, rather, Ikki was going in. Weapon drawn.

_'No. No way. No! NO! This isn't happening!"_ She had to pull herself together. She could do this, she could stop it. She froze. Her weapon wasn't with her. She'd put it down, let her guard down. Let Kaie down – Madoka.

The next sound was a cry of pain. Kaie. Her head was spinning. What if she ran? She could get help, get her weapon. Kaie was tough, she'd survive, right? But Ikki had surprised her from behind. If she didn't land a fatal attack, then Ikki could just go for Kaie's crest instead.

Sukaime would never make it. She'd been ignorant, she'd stayed silent. In the end, she was the weak link after all. Even Ikki, in this horrible, underhanded way was more useful to her ashikabi than Sukaime was.

The next thing Sukaime knew, something blew past her like lightning. She had just enough time to make out Namiji charging down the hall, halberd in hand.

"STOP!" Namiji then reached out with on hand and pulled Ikki out of the bathroom, throwing her to the ground and putting her weapon to the other sekirei's throat. Namiji scoffed and pulled her weapon back, readying a killing blow. "Coward!"

"W-wait!" Sukaime lunged forward, grabbing Namiji's arm. "J-just... I... i-it's to sudden! Please!"

Namiji halted, but her eyes remained glued to Ikki, not letting her make a single move unnoticed.

"Why? She's our enemy. She gets terminated. Sudden or not, I don't care," Namiji replied and then shrugged Sukaime off.

"Ugh, just do as she asks. We might as well get the opinion of our ashikabi, right?" Sukaime looked over to see Kaie, clutching her shoulder with blood staining her hand, but otherwise quite alive.

"K-Kaie... you-" Sukaime was relieved that her carelessness hadn't resulted in a total disaster.

"Don't look so happy, it's... weird," Kaie muttered. "Let's go."

"On your feet, coward," Namiji growled and stepped back from Ikki. Ikki stood, eyes dull and lifeless. Even Sukaime couldn't get a read on her, it was like she was already dead inside.

As Namiji marched the girl down the hall, Sukaime tried to catch her eye.

"Why?" Sukaime asked, wanting to know what had driven her to ruin what she'd thought was a good thing. Ikki stopped walking for a second and turned her head just enough to look at Sukaime out of the corner of her eye.

"Why do you think?" Ikki replied quietly and then resumed walking. The four of them didn't even get to the bottom of the stairs. Their ashikabi and the other sekirei had all gathered at the bottom, presumably having heard the commotion.

"What's going on? Namiji?" Kouji asked, staring at Namiji's weapon which was pointed at Ikki's back.

"We have a traitor, that's what," Namiji said. Sukaime found Madoka and followed his gaze. First his eyes traveled to Namiji and Ikki, currently the center of attention. Then he saw Kaie and her injury. After that he began to turn around. Sukaime saw that Masayuki was already slowly backing away - he didn't get far.

"What the _fuck_ is this?" Madoka stormed over to Masayuki who began to back away much faster. Sukaime didn't need her abilities to tell how angry Madoka was right now. He'd been slowly calming down the longer she knew him, but he was still Madoka. All the anger was quickly coming back. This wasn't going to end well, for Masayuki that was.

"N-now now, let's not be ha-" Masayuki's words became a choked cry as Madoka grabbed his shirt collar and slammed him into a wall, pressing his forearm against the bespectacled boy's throat and pinning him in place.

"What was that? Hasty? What's next? Telling me to _CALM DOWN_?" Madoka was red faced and furious.

"P-please..." Masayuki'd voice was a strained whisper as he fought to keep Madoka from outright choking him to death. "I-I can... e-expl... expl... ain..."

"Can you?" Everyone was quiet as Madoka, wide-eyed with rage, growled at Masayuki. No one seemed to know how to handle this and just let him do as he please. "OK, that's nice." Madoka suddenly let Masayuki go. The boy stumbled and grabbed his throat.

"Th-thank y-" Madoka suddenly surged back at him, grabbing his head and slamming it against the wall. "S-son of a.." Masayuki groaned, falling to his knees and clutching his head.

"H-hey, don't break my house!" Kouji protested, but Madoka ignored him in favor of glaring hatefully at Masayuki.

"I don't want to hear it! Nothing you can say will fix this!" Madoka pointed down at Masayuki, punctuating his words. Sukaime could tell it was taking everything Madoka had to not just curb stomp Masayuki in front of everyone. "This is over!"

"Wh-what are you going to do? If you want us gone, we'll leave! You'll never see us again! Besides, we probably won't last long on our own!" Masayuki pleaded to Madoka. He kinda had a point to be honest.

"Yeah, _you're _leaving... alone," Madoka said. Sukaime's heart sank. What was he planning to do with Ikki?

"Just hurry up then," Ikki mumbled. She must have been expecting this, no wonder she'd looked, still looked, so lifeless. She'd given up. Was this was Sukaime had been feeling all day? Had Ikki seen this moment coming all along as she marched to a foreseen end?

"You're just going to execute her? That's... at least give us a chance!" Masayuki eyes were wide.

"Why not, I could go another round," Benitsuabsa spoke up, cracking her neck.

"Sure, fine. If you can fight through every single one of us, you're free to go," Madoka said coldly. "Kouji, does this house have a back yard?" he turned to look at the boy in question. Upon seeing Madoka's eyes, Kouji flinched fearfully before nodding quickly. "Good, let's go." Madoka grabbed Masayuki's shirt, hauling him to his feet and then towards the back door, Kouji leading the way.

The back yard wasn't huge, property was at a premium on an island country like Japan, but it had a tall fence so witnesses wouldn't be too much of a problem.

"Look, if we're gonna do this, make it fast. There's not too many people around this time of day, but still... this is my friggin' house!" Kouji said in a harsh whisper, clearly nervous and glancing around like a criminal on the run.

"I'll do it," Namiji stepped forward, quite like an execution headed for the chopping block and her victim. The outcome was obvious – Ikki was dead. This battle was a farce.

Ikki and Namiji faced off, Namiji resolute and Ikki halfheartedly holding up her swords. There was no ceremony, and once it was just them with everyone else stepping back, the battle began. Namiji charged in, Ikki's eyes going wide as she was unable to react quickly. Namiji swatted one of the swords out of Ikki's hands and then swung low the sweep her feet out from under her. Namiji then raised her weapon high and swung down, with Ikki just barely rolling out of the way.

As Ikki got back up, she was too slow to avoid Namiji's back swing, earning a gash on her side. Ikki's expression had broken. Sukaime could see her fear and desperation. She was just as aware of the outcome of this fight as the rest of them. She had no real fight in her, but the fear of her termination was finally getting to her. Prepared or not, she didn't want to be terminated.

This was just too cruel. It was like a rigged dog fight. Ikki would be torn apart and killed, and for what? Revenge? Amusement? Practice? Sukaime couldn't think of a single good reason to let this go on. What were the other options though? They couldn't just keep her and get rid of Masayuki. Separating a sekirei and her ashikabi was just as cruel, no matter what the reason. And what was left? A quick execution by norito? There were no good options available to them.

She still had to stop this. She didn't know why Madoka was doing this, but for his sake she had to stop this.

"Madoka... c-come on, stop this already!" Sukaime tugged at his shirt.

"What?" Madoka looked down at her, his face still contorted with anger and hate.

"This isn't right! I-I don't think Ikki even wanted to do this! J-just stop it, please!" Their conversation was in a whisper, not wanting to attract attention. "I don't want to see this!"

"Then leave," Madoka moved to turn away from her, but she tugged at his shirt harder.

"This isn't like you! This is cruel, please!" She stared into his eyes, begging him silently. Ikki didn't deserve this. She didn't know the right answer, but she hated this.

**. . .**

Stop the fight? And then what?

"Dammit," Madoka growled under his breath. The thing was, Sukaime was getting to him. What did she expect though, him to show mercy to every single one of their enemies? He hated the fighting just as much, but he needed to protect them! This wasn't like Avaron and Masukagami, this time they knew they'd been betrayed without a doubt.

"It's not fair that we have to be punished because of our ashikabi! Madoka-kun, please!" Sukaime wasn't letting up. She was right, it wasn't fair. What could he do about it, though?

**. . .**

Sukaime finally felt a twinge of relief. His expression softened, she was getting through. She could feel his anger fading, ever so slowly but steadily. Would he stop the fight? Madoka pinched the bridge of his nose, looking torn. He then glanced back to the fight.

Everyone flinched. Sukaime felt something on her face. She reached up and her hand came away wet and warm. Blood. Why was there blood on her face?

"Um... sorry..." Namiji said nervously. Sukaime looked up to see Ikki lying on the ground and then saw that almost everyone who had been watching had blood splattered across their clothes and faces.

"Oh god, Avaron-sama, it's all over you!" Masukagami began frantically trying to wipe Avaron off using her sleeves.

"J-just forget it... you'll never get it all..." Avaron sighed, looking quite uncomfortable.

"I... uh..." Madoka looked to be at a loss. They'd taken too long, and now it was over.

Sukaime ran over to Ikki, who was still moving, if barely. She knelt next to her and shook her lightly, trying not to look at the long, bleeding wound that ran across Ikki's chest.

"Ikki! Y-you have to tell me! You didn't want to do it, right? Right?" Sukaime had no idea what to say, it was all she could think of. Would it really make her feel better to know though, or would it make this even harder? Could anything really make this better?

"Su... kaime? I-I had to... Masayuki... master... said I had to. W-we had no choice... he said we had no choice," Ikki said weakly.

"C-come on! It's way too soon, we had a promise didn't we? You can't break it on the same day!" Sukaime whimpered, shutting her eyes as she felt tears welling up. Was this going to be her fate too? Ikki didn't answer her and Sukaime knew she never would. She was gone. When she opened her eyes again, she just looked at the ground, trying to be numb even if only for a second.

**. . .**

"I'm sorry." Madoka walked over to Sukaime's side. He then looked at Masayuki who had his back pressed against the fence, face pale, staring at Ikki. "She said we."

"Wh-what?" Masayuki looked back at Madoka, confused.

"She said 'we had no choice,'" Madoka repeated. "Why?" he barked sharply.

"I-I was being paid by Higa!" Masayuki blurted out. "He wanted me to get at you guys from the inside, do whatever I could!"

"What? Then why now? Ikki had no chance of living through this and you knew it!" Madoka yelled at him incredulously. "You couldn't have honestly thought she'd pull this off!"

"I had a deadline! He wanted me to move now! I couldn't wait any longer!" Masayuki shouted. "I have debts, OK? Ikki was never going to make it through all this anyway! I had to think about my future!" He was left panting and disheveled after his outburst. Madoka was disturbed by this. He'd basically traded his sekirei for money. The sad thing was, Madoka could see how he'd have come to that conclusion, even if he couldn't condone what he'd done. This "game" never got any less sick.

**. . .**

"It's... not your fault..." Sukaime finally replied to Madoka quietly. She slowly stood up and began trudging toward Masayuki. At first he didn't even notice her, she was so small and quiet, but when he did she let out a cry of alarm.

"H-hey! What are you doing?" Masayuki shouted at her fearfully.

"People like you..." Sukaime said in a whisper. Suddenly, behind her from where she'd dropped it when she ran to Ikki's side, her weapon began to levitate. "People like you..." Sukaime began to grit her teeth.

"Sukaime, don't do anything-" Madoka began to speak, but he was cut off. Sukaime's weapon began to spin. It began making an awful shrieking noise as it spun faster and faster. Everyone cried out and clasped their hands over their ears.

"Gah! What the fuck?" Benitsubasa yelled, squinting through the pain of the noise.

"S-Sukaime-chan, m-make it stop!" Masukagami whimpered, in a similar state.

"People like you are the reason we have to do this!" Sukaime screamed and the javelin launched itself straight at Masayuki's forehead.

**. . .**

What the hell was this noise? It was the feeling of a million needles in his ears. Madoka felt like he was going to pass out. He could barely keep his eyes open, but he could see Sukaime fire her javelin. He couldn't move to stop her.

"Sukaime, no!" He yelled with all his might, be even he could barely hear his own voice over the noise. If she did this, what would MBI do to her? How could _he_ live with her if she became a murderer? The terrible noise finally began to die down, though his ears still ached and rang. "Sukaime... god dammit, don't scare me like that."

Masayuki was fine. The javelin had only just barely begun to _drill_ into his forehead. It hadn't even penetrated bone, though he had a trail of blood running down his face. Honestly, he probably deserved worse, but he was sure Sukaime had put the fear of god into him with that stunt. As the javelin clattered to the ground harmlessly, Madoka decided it was time to get rid of Masayuki.

"Get out of here before she changes her mind," Madoka motioned with his head that Masayuki should hurry and leave. Panting and crying, Masayuki scrambled to his feet and dashed away, hopefully forever.

Sukaime then turned and practically tackled Madoka, gripping his shirt and sobbing.

"Why did you do this to me? I didn't care before! I hate this! I hate this! I don't want to care anymore! I hate everyone!" Sukaime bawled her eyes out, pounding her fists against his chest, though her strikes were weak. Somehow he knew she didn't mean it, but he also knew she was hurting. He wasn't sure what this promise had been between her and Ikki, but it must have been important. Ikki being terminated was symbolic though, and not in a good way. Even he could see that. It hurt him too in a way. The hope that had been growing within their little alliance was much more fragile now.

"Dammit!" Avaron suddenly swore.

"Umm, if it's the clothes, you can borrow one of my little sister's shirts. It might be a bit small, but..." Kouji spoke nervously.

"No, not that! The jinki, did anyone get your jinki back from him?" Avaron asked them frantically. They all glanced at each other, eyes wide.

"Oh my god, this is really happening right now..." Benitsuabsa's jaw dropped. "We got fucking screwed by him anyway?"

"I'll wait for the helicopter here, the rest of you go and catch him! We're sekirei, he can't outrun us!" Namiji urged them.

"I'm gonna rip his legs off, then he won't outrun a snail!" Benitsuabsa growled furiously and ran off in hot pursuit, Kaie, Masukagami, and Oriha close behind.

"I guess we'll just do our best to keep up, then," Madoka sighed. He was really built more for endurance rather than sprinting at this point. That said, the three ashikabi did their best to follow their sekirei.

**. . .**

"Gonna kill him, gonna kill him, gonna fuckin' kill him!" Benitsuabsa swore as she raced down the street, hoping to catch sight of him. Masukagami teleported to a rooftop and then called down to them.

"This way!" She motioned for them to head down a specific street. They soon caught up to her, and saw Masayuki head around another corner. They caught up quickly, but when they rounded the corner themselves they saw him getting into a car.

"Oh come on!" Oriha shouted. It was a very specific, very red, very _Higa_, car. Higa turned, frowning, and gave them a tiny wave before flooring it and peeling out as he raced away from them.

"He must have called him ahead of time somehow!" Kaie sighed and shook her head.

"SCREW YOUR CAR!" Benitsuabsa put her fist _through _the pavement and pulled up a chunk of rocks and asphalt. She then threw it with all her strength. It was futile, really, and in the end they still lost... but they all burst out laughing when Benitsuabsa actually managed to bust one of Higa's tail lights. Well, everyone but Kaie, she just short of chuckled quietly. The car looked really expensive.

"Ugh, what a prick!" Benitsuabsa snorted, feeling a little better now, but still unhappy that they'd gotten away.

"Whatever, we'll get him next time!" Oriha crossed her arms. "We're way better than him!"

"Probably," they were surprised to see even Kaie agree with them.

"Dammit, why didn't you teleport into his car or something!" Benitsuabsa glared at Masukagami.

"W-without Avaron-sama I can't go that far..." Masukagami mumbled, blushing in embarrassment.

"Wow, useless," Benitsubasa scoffed and began heading back toward Kouji's house.

"Loser," Oriha chimed in.

"S-so mean!" Masukagami whined loudly, but followed them. Kaie just patted her on the shoulder.

"Ignore them, they're idiots," Kaie told her.

**. . .**

Madoka, Kouji, and Avaron had caught up with their sekirei in time to see them already heading back. Not having any cars to demolish, the news was far more demoralizing for them.

"He beat us? How is it that he still ended up beating us?" Kouji groaned ruffling his own hair in frustration.

"We can't look at it like that. We can get the jinki back, but he lost a lot more than we did that he can't get back," Avaron tried to calm him down.

"I guess. I can't believe I let myself get robbed though," Kouji let out a long sigh. "I'm dumb." They were currently sitting on the floor in his living room, and Kouji flopped over onto his back. Namiji laid down next to him and hugged him.

"Don't say that, Kouji. There were a lot of... distractions," she told him.

"Seriously," Madoka muttered in agreement. "For now, let's just be glad that all of _us_ are still here."

"Speaking of which, where did Sukaime go?" Masukagami suddenly asked. "She was here when we got back..."

"Oriha?" Madoka turned to the dainty sekirei. She just shrugged. "Kaie?" Kaie shook her head. "Beni. . . why are _two_ of my sekirei missing?" Madoka's face fell into his palm. This day was becoming far too long.

"I'm sure Sukaime's just trying to clear her head. Maybe Benitsuabsa is... um... comforting her?" Avaron suggested uncertainly.

"Pffffft!" Oriha nearly choked, trying to hold in her laughter at Avaron's suggestion.

**. . .**

Sukaime didn't even know where she was. She had just chosen a random house's front step to sit on and stared blankly into the distance. She was snapped out of this when someone let out their breath loudly and sat next to her.

"I gotta say, I'm impressed." It was... Benitsuabsa?

"What do you want? Time to make fun of me and get even?" Sukaime mumbled. "Go ahead. I don't care."

"Well it's not fun if you don't care." Benitsubasa crossed her arms and looked at her, frowning. "But seriously, you were _mad_. Like, really mad. I didn't think you had it in you. Good job." Benitsubasa patted her on the head. Sukaime really had no idea how to respond to that.

"I don't... what are you getting at? What do you want from me?" Sukaime inched away from Benitsubasa.

"No idea! But it was really boring back with everyone else whining about Kouji's jinki." Benitsubasa shrugged. "Though, I do have a question, I guess."

"What?" Sukaime muttered and turned her head away from the other sekirei.

"We still gonna watch TV when we get home?" Benitsubasa asked, leaning over to try and catch Sukaime's eye.

"I... wh... you..." Sukaime turned back to face Benitsubasa, their faces dangerously close. "Uhh..."

"Well?"

"I could totally kiss you right now..." Sukaime couldn't stop the words from coming out. She almost couldn't stop herself from doing it. Unfortunately Benitsubasa leaned away quickly, scowling in annoyance.

"Damn it, go back to being depressed and lame! You're less annoying that way!" Benitsubasa held her arm up in front of her face defensively.

"Just one? I had a really bad day!" Sukaime flung herself at Benitsubasa, wrapping her arms around her. Benitsubasa struggled weakly for a bit, but soon gave up, just letting Sukaime drape over her.

"Eh? Giving up?" Sukaime was surprised at the lack of resistance.

"Not worth the energy..."

"So I can kiss you?" Sukaime smiled widely.

"Can I break your nose?" Benitsubasa glared back.

"Hm. Before or after the kiss? That's an important detail," Sukaime questioned her.

"What do you think?" Benitsubasa raised her voice a bit.

"Ah, no fun, no fun." Sukaime let go, shaking her head. She then grabbed Benitsubasa's hand and stood up, pulling the other sekirei up with her. "Let's just go home _now!_ They'll catch up with us. Besides, Madoka-kun is cuter when he's all worried and flustered!"

"Uh... K, I guess." Benitsubasa shrugged before Sukaime ran ahead, dragging her along. After a few moments, Benitsubasa blushed and narrowed her eyes. "Why are we holding hands?"

"I had a bad day!"

"Let go!"

"No!"

"I said let go!"

"Never!"

* * *

><p><strong>Was that betrayal predictable? Maybe a little. I think in the end it held just enough impact though. As for Beni and Sukaime? BFFs? Well, I wouldn't go that far just yet... Beni's super tsun after all.<strong>

**Til' next time! (I even made sure to start the next chapter already.)**


	33. I Hate All The Lies

**I am getting slowly back into my writing flow. Hopefully I'll get content out a little faster going forward, but no promises just yet.  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>I Hate All the Lies<strong>

While Benitsubasa had eventually gotten her hand free from Sukaime, the two had indeed walked home early and went straight to the TV. They didn't talk and they barely even looked at each other. They didn't even comment idly on what they were watching. They just sat there, but it was peaceful.

Finally Madoka returned and as Sukaime predicted he was worried, though his expression had quickly turned to one of mixed relief and disbelief at how he found them. He was at a loss for words and he didn't even attempt to scold them. Sukaime had shut herself off, so she couldn't tell how he felt about what he saw, though she guessed maybe he was happy. He wanted them to get along, right?

And so the evening had continued as such, with only a small break for dinner. Even when everyone had gone to bed, they'd just turned the TV down low and kept going.

It must have been after midnight when Sukaime finally realized Benitsubasa wasn't even moving anymore. She'd fallen asleep. Somehow Sukaime felt extremely lonely when she realized that. She knew she wasn't; Madoka was only a few feet away, Kaie and Oriha were sleeping not far from her feet, and Benitsubasa was literally right next to her.

But Sukaime felt like she was alone with her thoughts. Everyone else was dreaming, perhaps even pleasantly, but she could only remember the previous days events. No one was sharing that with her, so she was alone. She felt like she would cry and felt stupid because of it. They were meant for this, how could she be upset by it? Had she reached some level of self-awareness that sekirei weren't meant for? Had she been broken?

Just as a loose tear began to roll down her face, she felt Benitsubasa stirring in her sleep. She slumped over and landed on Sukaime's shoulder, causing the girl to stiffen for fear she'd wake up Benitsubasa if she wasn't careful. It made her think though. For whatever reason, for the entirety of the day after the fiasco with Masayuki, Benitsubasa had been with her. Sukaime had joked that she was best friends with Benitsubasa, but... were they really friends now? Had Benitsubasa cared and been worried about her?

She had no idea, but she wanted to believe it. Just the possibility made her feel better. Letting herself feel wasn't so bad if that was true, right? She felt the irresistible impulse to kiss Benitsubasa again. It wasn't out of some feigned lust to torment the girl, she was asleep after all, or anything along those lines. No, she just felt the need to express, even just with herself as witness, her growing affection for her fellow sekirei. They were quite possibly the strangest, most mismatched duo in the entire city, but they'd been together, however tempestuously, since almost the start. Somehow they were still there.

Her lips didn't land on Benitsubasa's, but instead upon the pink haired girl's forehead. Benitsubasa stirred once more and Sukaime feared her head would soon be sent rocketing through the ceiling, but Benitsubasa still didn't awake.

Instead, the other girl suddenly flopped over entirely, knocking Sukaime onto her side, and wrapped her arms around her. Sukaime froze, afraid and confused. She'd without warning become Benitsubasa's teddy bear for the night. Sukaime ended up smiling, pulling one of Benitsubasa's arms closer to her chest. The situation would probably deteriorate later, but she didn't feel so alone anymore. If she wasn't going to have her sleeping bag tonight, well, Benitsubasa was more than warm enough to make up for it.

"Hm, well, this'll be fun in the morning anyway," Sukaime whispered softly to herself.

**. . .**

Kaie raised her head the next morning and found that she'd ended up sleeping splayed out on the floor, her sleeping bag having become mostly unzipped during the night. She realized that the floor was far less cramped than usual, for normally she had to share space with at least Sukaime and Oriha, while Benitsubasa usually had the couch. However, last night it had seemed the floor had been unusually free.

She looked at the couch and froze. As expected, there was Benitsubasa, but not as expected, or rather something she'd never thought she would see was Sukaime... next to Benitsubasa... in Benitsubasa's _arms_. Staring, wide-eyed, she groped around behind herself until she felt Oriha. She shook the girl until she stirred.

"Uuugh, what is it?" Oriha mumbled groggily. Kaie just pointed at the couch silently. "Wh-" Oriha stopped as her jaw effectively hit the floor. "What... what... what..." Oriha stuttered quietly, her voiced choked in shock. "What do we... do?" she finally asked.

"I..." Kaie finally looked away and to Oriha, whose expression was just as stunned as her own must have been. "Don't know."

"So, um, breakfast? You know, before they wake up," Oriha said. "And Benitsubasa starts screaming."

"Good idea." Kaie couldn't imagine that Benitsubasa had let this happen knowingly. Undoubtedly it was more of Sukaime's mischief. She didn't understand how Madoka could stand her, her obnoxious behavior was unbearable. She was like a perverted old man with the irritating, high-pitched voice of a child.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa slowly came to awareness as the light of day hit her closed eyelids. She found that she was unusually warm and cozy. Such a situation felt alarmingly familiar. She cracked her eyes open and found that not only was she sharing the couch with Sukaime, but holding her. She didn't know nor care how that had occurred. She shoved Sukaime off the couch.

Moments later Sukaime's head popped back up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She looked at Benitsubasa and smiled brightly.

"Good morning!" the teal-haired girl greeted her from where she knelt on the floor.

"You're... chipper," Benitsubasa responded, one eyebrow raised. She was oddly upbeat for having been thrown on the floor.

"Well, after a night like that, anyone would be," Sukaime winked in an undeniably suggestive manner. This time the response Benitsubasa gave was less vocal and more physical, in the form of a smack to Sukaime's head, leaving her tilted to the side. Despite that, Sukaime's stupid grin seemed to be permanently affixed.

"You're dumb," Benitsubasa said dryly and shook her head. "Come on, let's get breakfast."

"Like a real date?"

"Still dumb."

**. . .**

For the rest of the day, Sukaime kept up her cheery attitude. Multiple times Madoka tried to speak with her, asking if she was OK or wanted to talk, but she insisted that everything was fine. It had only been a day, of course he was worried, but she didn't need to talk about it. Benitsubasa had been nice to her, why ruin the mood by bringing up bad memories? She was determined the live in the moment and just do her best to be happy.

The next day she was just as determined. That said, sitting around Madoka's house had long since become old. She knew her mind and knew she'd think up a storm if left to her own devices and soon enough the bad memories would creep in and all would be lost. She needed a distraction, and she had the perfect one in mind.

"Hey there, Beni dearest," Sukaime got Benitsubasa's attention whilst leaning casually on the arm of the sofa. Benitsubasa tilted her head to look at her, but didn't respond, not even to call her dumb. Sukaime wondered if she was biting her tongue in an attempt to be nicer or if she'd just given up on coming up with retorts every time. "Wanna go out?"

"Out?" Benitsubasa sat up straight, her interest piqued.

"Yeah. Madoka's at work, Kaie's with him, and Oriha's missing again. Don't you think it's about time we found out what our lovely doll is up to?" Sukaime explained her idea.

"I really don't care," Benitsubasa sighed and slumped back down into her seat.

"Or we can sit here for the next seven hours and do nothing. Oh, hey, wanna hear the most annoying sound in the wor-" Benitsubasa's eyes shot wide with something between horror and realization before she grabbed Sukaime's wrist, dragging her toward the door.

"Let's go." Once outside though, she stopped. "Uh, which way?" Benitsubasa looked around but Oriha wasn't in sight.

"She only left a few minutes ago, and I know she always heads that way to start." Sukaime pointed to their right down the street, heading towards the center of the city. Benitsubasa frowned but quickly headed off. Before long, after deciding to take to the rooftops for a better view, they managed to spy Oriha in the distance. It seemed she was also using the rooftops to get around faster, though as the buildings got taller she went back to the street-side.

To their surprise, Oriha eventually entered a building. It had large glass windows so it was easy for the two following her to sneak over and peek inside. However, the first thing they noticed were the displays in the windows. The displays held mannequins wearing various costumes. One looked like a maid outfit, but the others were far more outlandish, such a skintight outfit of some sort. Sukaime and Benitsubasa exchanged puzzled glances before looking past the mannequins and deeper into the shop.

They had to wait a few minutes, but eventually Oriha emerged. She was wearing a maid outfit, quite like the one in the display, though with the addition of cat ears. She stood near the middle of the store, which held more outfits on clothing racks or on other mannequins. A pair of girls in their late teens or early twenties entered the shop and Oriha greeted them.

Their conversation couldn't be heard, but soon Oriha left before returning in a different outfit and a brightly colored wig. She smiled and seemed to be posing for the girls.

"Is... she... a model?" Sukaime whispered to Benitsubasa. Benitsubasa just nodded dumbly. Unfortunately, it seemed they'd been staring too long and had pushed their luck. Oriha noticed them, locking eyes. First Oriha just looked shocked, but then furious. However, she quickly corrected her expression, lips moving quickly as she spoke to the two customers. She directed them to another young woman in the store before disappearing out into the back once more.

"So, run or face her tiny wrath?" Sukaime asked Benitsubasa. Benitsubasa, having recovered from her surprise, just shrugged.

"I'm not afraid of her," Benitsubasa said. Sukaime supposed that was true enough. They didn't have to wait long, and soon Oriha burst out of the store, eyes burning and teeth on edge.

"You _followed_ me?" Oriha growled looking from on to the other, as if trying to decide who to yell at first.

"What, I warned you that I might follow you. At least I kept it a secret." Sukaime told her and then smirked. "I know you look like a doll, but to think you were playing dress up! It suits you!"

"Shut up!" Oriha snapped. "At least I'm making myself useful! We all lost our MBI cards, but you two aren't even making an effort! You just fucking nap all day!" Oriha's high pitched voice pierced their ears as she scolded them.

"Hmm, let me guess, this has something to do with that secret date you had with Madoka," Sukaime guessed, trying to keep her cool. Oriha was being very aggressive right now. Benitsubasa however looked much less "cool" upon being reminded of that night.

"Yes, good luck trying to do anything like that! I can take him on dates whenever I want now! Once I tell him what I've been up to, he'll like me a lot more than you!" Oriha crossed her arms smugly.

"Right. Keep it up and we'll see how much he likes you when you're in a puddle on the ground," Benitsubasa went straight for the threat. Oriha was certainly asking for it, considering who she was taunting.

"Sure, go ahead, right here!" Oriha leaned forward, sticking her cheek out. "I'm sure he'll love you for it."

"You bitch!" Benitsubasa lunged and Sukaime was just barely able to grab her arm and stop her.

"Let it go. She wins this one," Sukaime sighed tiredly. She hated to admit it, considering the attitude Oriha was displaying, but she'd definitely gotten one over them. "So, Oriha, doll, what exactly is this little job of yours? How'd you pull it off?" Sukaime asked, her voice a little colder. Everyone already had their fangs out after all, she had no reason to keep feigning an amiable demeanor.

"I display costumes for customers," Oriha answered tersely.

"Hm. So a living mannequin?" Oriha nodded in response. "And where does the money go?" Oriha frowned at the question, but surprisingly gave an answer.

"My tuner helped me set up a bank account," Oriha said. "Technically it's hers, but I can use it however I want."

"Ah, so you've got someone in your corner. Interesting." Sukaime frowned. It seemed Benitsubasa wasn't the only one visiting her tuner.

"Oriha, you're on the clock you know!" Suddenly a woman, looking to be in her mid twenties, poked her head out of the door. She had short, dark hair and actually looked like she belonged in Japan, unlike them and their unnatural hair color. "Oh, how cute. Friends of yours?"

"They were just l-" Oriha began, but Sukaime saw a chance for mischief.

"Yep! She's our little doll! I can't believe she found a job that fits her so perfectly!" Sukaime put on her cutest smile. She could _feel _Oriha squirming. "I'm jealous, we only found out today."

"Oriha, you should have told me you had friends like these. They'd be perfect for making a catalog..." The woman's eyes were shining with inspiration.

"W-would they be?" Oriha chuckled nervously, her voice tense. The woman suddenly rushed over to Benitsubasa.

"Yes. I mean look at her. It's real hair, but I can't even see the roots! How did you...?" The woman began touching Benitsubasa's hair. Now it was the pink haired girl's turn to squirm. "Oh my- you too!" She suddenly ran her hand through Sukaime's hair. "What's your secret?"

"Oh, you know, we're just, uh, perfectionists! Takes us hours!" Sukaime lied through her teeth.

"I must have you!"

"Wh-" Both Sukaime and Benitsubasa's eyes went wide.

"As models! Well, I can't hire you like Oriha, but can I dress you up and take pictures? We could do it right now, real quick!" The woman was clearly excited. "I'll pay you!"

"Hell n-" Benitsubasa was clearly not interested, but once again, mischief.

"Sure!" Sukaime chirped excitedly. Maybe she just wanted to bug Oriha, or maybe she just wanted to see Benitsubasa "dressed up." Maybe even a nice, short skirt.

**. . .**

"Thanks! Come again next month!" The woman waved as Sukaime and Benitsubasa left the costume shop. Benitsubasa just hung her head and plodded off while Sukaime waved back with a smile. In the end, perhaps because Sukaime had been unable to control her lecherous stare, Benitsubasa had refused anything with a skirt or dress that didn't include some sort of pants or shorts. That said, Benitsubasa had done a fair job of striking various poses, mostly for action based costumes such as a ninja costume and a few martial arts based outfits. She'd been happy to return to her normal outfit though.

Sukaime, perhaps because she had shown up in something skin-tight, had worn a few tight, latex outfits. There had been a nurse costume, a stealthy cat-suit, and a few other things. She'd definitely enjoyed it more than Benitsubasa and Oriha. However, by the end, despite managing to peek at Benitsubasa while she was changing once, Sukaime had been glad to leave. Oriha had been glaring at her constantly, and the angry vibes she'd been giving off had slowly eaten away at her mood.

How was it that Benitsubasa seemed to be the most accepting of her at this point?

"Well, that was fun," Sukaime said as she caught up to Benitsubasa.

"I can't believe we convinced her to give Oriha our money," Benitsubasa grumbled head low and shoulders slumped. "We actually talked her into giving that bitch our money."

"How the hell were _we_ gonna cash a check?" Sukaime asked her.

"I know, but still... it feels wrong." Benitsubasa scoffed. "We shoulda just refused money, period."

"Yeah, but I bet Madoka can convince her to buy us something. We totally earned it!" Sukaime argued. Benitsubasa just shrugged and began walking faster, leaving Sukaime to her thoughts.

While it had started out fun, spying on Oriha with Benitsubasa had turned into something decidedly not. She wasn't sure what she'd expected Oriha's reaction to be, but the level of hostility they'd met with was... unexpected. Oriha had seemed pleasant enough lately, or at least tolerable, but that felt closer to how she'd been when they'd first met and she'd pissed off Benitsubasa. It had nearly been a repeat of the time Benitsubasa had hit her.

Madoka wanted them to all get along, but was that even possible? She and Benitsubasa were getting along, and Kaie and Oriha seemed that have sprouted a little friendship of sorts, often playing cards or idly chatting. Had lines been drawn? Were the two pairs split permanently into tiny, little factions? Even then, she could tell those pairings were tenuous at best.

Whoever felt they had a shot with Madoka to get him all for herself would take it, and everyone else could go to hell. Well, that was true for the other three anyway. But what about herself? She wondered. She honestly wasn't sure.

**. . .**

Of course the issue now was that stalking Oriha had only eaten up about two hours of the day and had left them with a bad taste in their mouths. On an average day there was boredom, sure, but at least their moods could be considered neutral. Now their spirits had been decisively dampened by Oriha's toxic attitude.

They had the whole day to stew over that, and by them time they met with Madoka after work it couldn't be said that their moods had improved. Sukaime could get over it, or at least hide how she felt, but Benitsubasa... not so much.

They didn't do a good job hiding it from Madoka either. Sukaime did her best to chatter away and keep an awkward silence from growing, but moments of silence did ensue and Benitsubasa and Oriha were constantly trading dirty looks. Madoka noticed. By the time they got home, the tension was palpable.

"OK, now that we're not in public and I don't have to worry about you guys making a scene... what's going on?" Madoka sighed. He looked like he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

"Oh, nothing, don't-" Sukaime was silenced by a disbelieving scowl from Madoka. "OK..." she shrank back and kept quiet.

"It's really not a big deal, Madoka-sama," Oriha spoke up, her voice sounding innocent. She folded her hands behind her back and stood up straight, chest out, smiling cutely. "Though, I do have a bit of a secret to tell you."

"Yeah?" Madoka looked at her nervously. They way his eyes twitched downward once or twice showed that Oriha's flirting tactics weren't entirely failing.

"I... have a job!" Oriha announced, shooting a victorious smirk in Benitsubasa and Sukaime's direction.

". . . huh?" Madoka just looked confused. Oriha's expression faltered momentarily, but her smile quickly returned.

"I've been working! How did you think I set up our... you know," Oriha blushed at what was obviously a happy memory. "I told you I'd tell you later, so here it is!"

"Wait wait wait," Madoka placed a hand on his forehead. "You've been sneaking out, into the city, where a few dozen people want you dead, without telling anyone where you were going... alone?"

"Uh, w-well..." This wasn't going as well as Oriha had hoped, it seemed.

"_Did _anyone else know?" Madoka glanced from one to the other of them.

"We just found out today," Benitsubasa spoke up first. "Well, I guess we kinda knew she was sneaking out but we didn't know why."

"And nobody told me-"

"Didn't care enough." Benitsubasa crossed her arms. "Not my problem if she dies."

"OK, you I expect this from. Sukaime?" Madoka shifted his gaze. Sukaime had expected this the second he'd started getting annoyed. She laughed nervously.

"Uh, well, this whole caring thing is kinda new to me, s-so... I mean..." Sukaime looked around, but obviously help wasn't coming, not from this crowd. "W-we took some really nice pictures! Personally I wore this nurse thing with a really nice skirt. And by nice I mean super sho-..." Her words trailed off when she noticed a mixture of confusion and exasperation on Madoka's face.

"Ugh, OK, so, what is this job exactly?" Madoka asked. Oriha explained everything about her job, including the part about her tuner and the money, and then Sukaime explained the photo-shoot. By the end, Madoka had calmed down and was more accepting of the idea.

"Sh-should I quit?" Oriha asked, looking disappointed.

"No, but no more going alone. You go with her," he turned to Sukaime and Benitsubasa. "Both of you." The last part was directed at Benitsubasa more specifically.

"What? Why should I? Let her take care of herself!" Benitsubasa growled. "She can die for all I care!"

"Well, she can't give you your part of the money if she's dead," Madoka told her.

"And after that?" Benitsubasa countered with an eyebrow raised.

"You'll do it because _I'm_ asking you to," Madoka said, though his words were spoken lightheartedly. Benitsubasa just frowned and looked away, but eventually Madoka managed to catch her eye and she blushed.

"Hmph, fine! Whatever!" Benitsubasa glared at Oriha. "But I won't like it."

"Then don't bother! I don't need you! Let her do what she wants, Madoka-sama! Sukaime too!" Oriha glared back. Sukaime sighed, for a moment she thought things had been going well.

"What if I _want_ to go with you?" Sukaime asked her, hoping to catch her off guard.

"Well I want _you _there even less! You're twice as annoying and you never shut up!" So apparently this was how Oriha really felt. It wasn't exactly surprising, but she'd seemed much more manageable recently compared to how she was currently acting.

"Yes, because you're so perfect. You know, maybe she has a point, she probably doesn't need us, she's a big girl... well, not _big, _but..." Benitsubasa scowled at her. Sukaime would have been happier to have Benitsubasa on her side if it wasn't in the middle of infighting.

"You're one to talk! You're not _big_ at all!" Oriha shot back. Benitsubasa immediately bared her teeth and glared back.

"What are you suggesting?" Benitsubasa spat. Sukaime was starting to get a headache. Had she always been this sensitive to everything? She could feel their anger, Madoka's confusion as he tried to think of a solution, and... something else. Suddenly, there was a new stimulus. It was like a slap to the back of her head. She turned and her gaze immediately fell upon Kaie.

It was short lived, as once Kaie noticed she was looking her expression became effectively neutral. However, Sukaime had seen it. She'd been looking at them down her nose, lips curled in contempt, almost disgust. What the hell? Kaie had always seemed more distant, but how long had she been concealing that look? Since the beginning?

Before she knew it, she was walking away. She didn't want to be there anymore. The room was just suddenly far too loud.

**. . .**

Despite the argument, Madoka had insisted that if Oriha went to work Benitsubasa and Sukaime would accompany her. However, Benitsubasa noticed that Sukaime was being unusually quiet. In fact she hadn't spoken a word since the previous night. No taunting, no jokes, not even a "good morning" when they'd woken up.

It had been blissful at first, but the silence was becoming maddening. She wondered if she should use her share of the photo-shoot money to buy a music player.

The weirdest thing wasn't Sukaime though, it was Oriha. She'd actually apologized for yelling at them. That said, on the walk to her job she was just as quiet as Sukaime. Benitsubasa didn't understand anything that was happening. As the week passed though, she could tell something was brewing. Oriha got slightly less aloof as time went on, but as she got more pleasant Sukaime just seemed to get more tense. It was as if she was angry at the relatively peaceful outcome of things.

On Friday, as they walked with Oriha, Oriha had actually tried to start a conversation. Sukaime's response has been a cold stare that had plunged the three of them back into silence. It was the next day that things came to a head.

Madoka left to go shopping for food, alone. That left all four sekirei to themselves. More notably, it meant Sukaime had unsupervised access to all three of them. Benitsubasa soon found herself in a room with the other three at Sukaime's request. It seemed she was going to break the silence in a big way.

"OK, so we're here. Why?" Oriha asked.

"Well, since you asked, why don't we start with you?" Sukaime responded with a hostile glare.

"What about me?"

"How about your unbearable attitude!" Sukaime was being unusually aggressive today.

"_My_ attitude? I've been nothing but nice these past few days! You're the one with the attitude!" Oriha shot back just as harshly. Benitsubasa just felt herself beginning to smirk. This was going to be good.

"Well after dealing with you this long, it's not really a surprise that anyone would have an attitude!" Sukaime told her.

"Dealing with me? What, the way I cook for _all_ of you every day? The way I clean up after you're done eating? Yeah, I must make your life so difficult!"

"You're full of yourself! You've already decided you've won! The only reason you _ever_ act nice is because you don't even care anymore! And it's _just_ an act!" Sukaime's voice was starting to get _really_ loud now. "You're so certain that Madoka's going to fall for you, or already has, so you fake being nice because you think it makes things easier! You're not even good at it, you just make sure to try extra hard in front of Madoka! You think I believed that apology?"

"Hmph, so what? Like you're any different!" Oriha crossed her arms.

"Your entire existence now is just one big lie to all of our faces, including Madoka's!" Sukaime stepped right up to Oriha, who took a step back, suddenly looking a little nervous.

"H-hey..." Oriha stuttered. It seemed that Sukaime's take on things had shaken her a little. Benitsubasa was struggling not to laugh at this point.

"Well, if this is all you're doing, I don't really have the desire to listen any longer," Kaie spoke up, displaying zero interest.

"No! You're staying right here! You're even worse!" Sukaime turned on her.

"Oh really?" Kaie sighed, looking back at Sukaime passively. It was obvious she was bored and just wanted to walk away.

"You're so arrogant it hurts!" Sukaime actually looked like she had a massive headache as she spoke, her teeth clenched tightly and sweat beginning to drip down her face. "You're look down on all of us like we're just stupid children."

"Well, you're the one who said it." Kaie rolled her eyes. Sukaime winced like she'd been slapped, but her glare only intensified.

"You don't even play nice, you're just waiting! You think we're immature trash and eventually Madoka will see how much better you are!" If Sukaime was right, Benitsubasa actually felt a little offended now.

"I don't have to listen to you." Kaie scoffed, turning to walk away.

"You're such a hypocrite! You told us to trust Madoka, but you're the one keeping things from him the most! Do you have any idea what you're doing? You're so coldhearted! If he had any idea what you were really like, he'd hate you!" That got Kaie's attention. She spun around, eyes wide with fury.

"What do you know about me? Nothing! You're just a child with a big mouth!" Kaie finally spoke a bit of her mind.

"I know you've been leading Oriha on!" Sukaime said.

"What?" Oriha said in confusion.

"Sorry, did you think she was your friend? She pretty much thinks of you the same way she thinks of the rest of us." Sukaime crossed her arms. "The whole playing cards thing is just as fake as the rest of her."

"I... uh..." Oriha looked lost, but there was a hint of hurt in there as well. "What are you, a mind reader?"

"Yes, kind of," Sukaime responded.

"Pfft, well you're wrong! It's not like I was trying to be friends with anyone! I-I... uh..." Oriha kept glancing at Kaie, as if she was unsure of what she really wanted to say. "Um, Kaie?" Oriha looked at her. Kaie just shook her head.

"Just leave me alone," Kaie demanded icily and stormed off.

"Hmph, so is it Benitsubasa's turn now?" Oriha scowled, looking a bit disheartened now.

"No, she's mean but at least she's honest about it," Sukaime said.

"Right, well, you can't actually read minds, so you're dumb. I'm gone," Oriha was ready to walk off too.

"No. She's annoying, but she doesn't make things up. She digs out whatever horrible things she can find to torture you with, because the truth sucks more." To her surprise, Benitsubasa found herself sticking up for Sukaime in a way. Oriha looked just as surprised, but then what little color she had drained from her face. Suddenly Sukaime's words had meaning.

As Oriha dashed out of the room, Benitsubasa suspected that she wasn't planning to play cards with Kaie again any time soon. She then looked at Sukaime whose head was now hung low as she walked over and slumped down against a wall.

"So... I'm honest, huh? Cool." Benitsubasa smirked with amusement. "Anyway, what brought all that up?"

"I _can_ read minds," Sukaime said plainly. "For real." OK, now this was getting creepy.

"Huh?"

"Well, it's not exactly mind reading. But you know how we can sometimes feel what Madoka feels?" she asked. Benitsubasa nodded.

"I can do that with anyone at any time I want," Sukaime explained.

"Wow, now I _really_ hate you," Benitsubasa grumbled and looked away. She had the feeling that not meeting Sukaime's eyes didn't help though.

"No you do-" Sukaime's eyes went wide. "Wait, you really don't?"

"Fuck off, that's cheating!" Benitsubasa shouted at her. So maybe she didn't want to murder her in her sleep anymore, that was different from not hating... right?

"Sorry, you're right," Sukaime sighed tiredly. "What's even the point? I'm not as good at fighting as the rest of you. I'm dead weight. Feeling people isn't useful in the long run. All I did was piss off Kaie and make Oriha sad."

"I know, that was fun to watch," Benitsubasa chuckled darkly. Sometimes it paid to focus on the positive things in life. For now she'd just pretend that Sukaime _hadn't_ been invading her mental privacy for months on end. "So now what?"

"Now I wait for Madoka to come home and hope he doesn't kick me out when he hears about this." Sukaime buried her face in her knees.

"Right. Well, obviously he won't do that. He's Madoka, idiot," Benitsubasa blushed a little as she spoke. He was way too nice, but at the same time she kind of liked that about him.

In the end though, he didn't find out. No one told on Sukaime. Obviously, he questioned the awkward silence and gloomy atmosphere that had fallen over them, but he never got a straight answer. Benitsubasa understood though. In the beginning, when she'd first met Sukaime, she'd been her sole target. She'd felt the cruelty of her words. They'd hurt because they were usually true. Oriha and Kaie were hiding from those choice truths that Sukaime had spoken.

Enough had already been said.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry for the extra delay on this one. Had a power outage for 3 days straight over my Thanksgiving, which was when I wanted to release it. The next chapter is already done and SHOULD be released next weekend.<strong>


	34. Final Special

**What's that? A different style of chapter title? That's right, it's the final special chapter! Process of elimination will help you figure out who it's about. Or, you know, reading it.**

* * *

><p><strong>The Longest Day<strong>

Kaie was walking alone with Madoka. It was a Sunday, which made that unusual. It was her own fault that this was happening of course. Ever since Sukaime's outburst the previous day, she'd been avoiding him. When he tried to speak with her, her responses were short. When Madoka entered a room, she found an excuse to leave it.

It seemed her behavior had been the most unusual, so she'd been targeted by him. She hated it. She was so angry, but she couldn't actually bring that anger forth. Her beloved ashikabi, and thanks to Sukaime she couldn't look him in the eye. She couldn't believe Sukaime had managed to do this to her. She'd run her mouth and acted like she knew everything.

Somehow though, her words had held impact.

"So, um, what are we doing?" Madoka had just dragged her out of the house without explanation. He'd looked short on patience. She knew he would interrogate her. All of them had been acting too strangely lately. There had been too much squabbling. If only the rest could actually behave for once, she wouldn't be suffering this way.

"I need to get you new clothes, Asahi-san is starting to look at you funny since you always wear the same dress," Madoka told her. She almost breathed out a sigh of relief. So he didn't plan to interrogate her after all? "Also I wanted to get you alone so we can talk. Mostly that, actually." Damn.

"Th-there's really... nothing..." She couldn't even say it properly. It was so obviously untrue. Lying to his face was impossible now, she'd just hate herself.

"Uhuh," Madoka didn't buy it, not that she'd expected him to. "So what's eating you?"

"It's nothing for you to worry about," Kaie said, trying to avoid the issue with all her might. At least that wasn't as big a lie.

"Look here, you and Oriha were really well-behaved for a while and I thought you two were actually becoming friends. Now you two won't even look at each other. Hell, you won't even look at _me_. What's going on?" He raised his voice impatiently, stepping in front of her and forcing her to stop walking.

"I-I..."

"Did Oriha say something?" Madoka guessed and Kaie's eyes shot wide.

"N-no! It wasn't her! Whatever you do, don't blame her for this! She doesn't deserve it!" she insisted. There was enough going wrong without Oriha taking the blame for Sukaime's actions. Madoka had suggested that she and Oriha were friends, or something close to it. While Kaie didn't agree with that sentiment, she wasn't cruel enough to let Oriha take the fall.

"OK, OK. Got it, Oriha's innocent." Madoka backed off. He then sighed and rubbed the back of his neck, stepping out of her path. "Well I'll drop it for now I guess. I'm out of ideas anyway." Kaie could have told him it was all Sukaime's fault, but she couldn't bring herself to do it for some reason. What would Madoka think of Sukaime's accusations if they were brought to light. Madoka wouldn't really hate her like Sukaime had suggested, right? But fear paralyzed her nonetheless.

They continued to walk in silence, neither having the desire to break it. They arrived at a small shop and that was when the silence finally broke. She almost flinched when he spoke, she was so wound up. As they stepped into the shop, Madoka stopped and turned to her.

"All right, let's split up. We'll both look around and meet up in a bit, OK?" he suggested.

"Oh. OK." She nodded submissively. Honestly, she would have preferred to stay by his side, but she couldn't bring herself to argue. Madoka then patted her on the shoulder and walked deeper into the store. She then let out a long sigh and found herself pouting.

She felt more relaxed without him being next to her, but at the same time she wanted to be with him. She'd hoped to push through the awkwardness and make it into a date. She finally had a chance to have him to herself outside of work. Somehow she had to make the best of this. Maybe if she found something really pretty to wear, he'd want to stay with her longer.

But then she remembered that she was supposed to be buying clothes that she'd wear to work, and her spirits sank again. Though, she technically had some money for herself. Should she spend it now? She decided to just start looking and think as she went.

She didn't have much luck. She kept getting distracted by Sukaime's words worming their way back into her head. Finally she just grabbed a striped, long-sleeved shirt, a pair of dark-blue jeans, and went to look for Madoka.

"Excuse me, this is for you." Before she even got half way, a lanky girl with long, pale brown hair held a cell-phone in her direction.

"I assure you, it's not," Kaie brushed her off.

"Kaie." She froze when the girl suddenly said her name.

"How-"

"It's for you," the girl repeated and pushed the phone into Kaie's hand. Nervously, while keeping an eye on the girl, Kaie lifted the phone to her ear.

"H-hello?" Kaie spoke.

"_Oh, good, we've got you._" The voice was male, and Kaie suddenly didn't like where this was going. "_Look, I'll make this simple. We have your ashikabi, and you're going to be doing a few things for us._" Kaie's eyes went wide, and it took a considerable amount of restraint to not immediately shred the girl, sekirei no doubt, in front of her.

"What do you mean you have him?" Kaie asked.

"_What? Haven't you ever heard of kidnapping? Between knowing the right people and having a sekirei, it's really not that hard,_" the voice answered. "_Just follow Kayoama there and he'll be fine, I promise._" With that, the call ended. The girl, Kayoama, took the phone back before she could crush it. How had this happened? She was just like Uzume now, a slave to another ashikabi. Was Higa involved in this? This was certainly his M.O. He had motive too.

"Now, come." Kayoama tore the clothes out of Kaie's hand and tossed them aside. "We'll even let you see him, but don't try anything. Our ashikabi don't have the stomach to kill anyone, but the rest of us won't hesitate if you cause trouble." She kept her voice low so no one could overhear that last part. The way she spoke suggested there was more than one person involved.

Kaie just grit her teeth and nodded. It wasn't a horribly long walk, it took about thirty minutes in total. She found herself in a large storage room in the back of a store that was currently closed. Besides herself and Kayoama, there were two other sekirei and four young men. Did that mean there was another sekirei not yet present. She was outnumbered regardless.

Then there was Madoka. He was laying, unconscious, on a large crate with his hands tied behind him. She knew he was alive, he was breathing, and besides that _she_ was still alive.

"What did you do to him?" Kaie demanded.

"He's fine. My friend here's family runs a vet clinic, so he's just drugged. We'll keep him that way until we're done with you," one of the young men answered. He was average in build with short, neat, black hair and brown eyes.

"What? I said we shouldn't risk dosing him again!" Another of them complained.

"It's fine. You know what you're doing, right?" the first responded.

"Yes, which is wh-"

"Please, it's not an issue right now. No more interruptions." He waved for silence.

"What do you want from me?" Kaie glowered. She glanced around. One of the other sekirei was next to Madoka, a blade drawn. The other two stood near the four ashikabi.

"It's quite simple. You see, some of us have decided to form groups and work together. Problem is, the groups don't quite agree with each other. You're going to help us wipe out a rival group. Simple as that," he explained. As expected, she was being turned into a tool. Well, she didn't plan on following along. They'd made a mistake in bringing her to Madoka. She'd end this now. If she could just disable the one guarding Madoka, she was confident she could beat the other two as well. "To my understanding, you're quite powerful, so I expect good things."

"I guess you'll find out," Kaie said, voice low and hostile. He'd find out right now!

"Oh, I assure you she is, Iwao-kun," a new voice spoke that stopped Kaie dead in her tracks. "I was never allowed to forget." The fourth, missing sekirei walked over. "Why didn't you tell me she'd arrived? I've been waiting so long." She had long, brilliantly red hair tied into a ponytail with a long, gold ribbon that fell down her back. Her amber eyes looked into Kaie's. "How long has it been, Kaie?" She wore black tights that went down just past her knees and had a violet skirt that was open in the front and went down to the back of her knees. Her midriff was bare, and she wore a matching violet top with black trim that was sleeveless with an oval opening over her chest. Lastly, she wore long gloves with thin bracers over her forearms and a similar pair of boots.

"Tankako..." Kaie whispered. Her arms went slack, hanging at her sides. Suddenly, fighting was the farthest thing from her mind.

"Are you ready? We're doing this today," Tankako stepped over to Kaie. Kaie could only stare back, silent, lips parted, but no words would form. Finally Kaie gave a small nod.

"Good." Tankako smiled widely, looking very pleased with herself. "I look forward to seeing your accomplishments." Kaie didn't answer, she was too stunned, too off balance to even think straight, let alone think of a proper response.

"So, we're all set then?" Iwao interjected, catching Tankako's attention.

"Yes, I believe we are," the sekirei smirked. "You'll go with these three to help deal with a few pests, and I'll be here to keep an eye on your ashikabi. Don't worry, he'll be fine. You trust me, right?"

"I... uh..." Kaie just shifted her gaze downward.

"Of course you do. After all, you're no use if he's dead. And besides, these boys here can't stomach something like murder anyway. Though, keep in mind, the better you behave, the less likely _accidents_ will be." Kaie twitched. What was she suggesting? The question was short lived, it was obvious what Tankako meant. If Kaie rebelled, Madoka was her "off switch." If he died she was terminated, and wouldn't be able to cause any further trouble. "Now, are we in agreement?"

"I..." Kaie's throat was choked shut. She was trying to think of a way out, but nothing was coming to her. Her mind was dull and fuzzy.

"Kaie." Tankako grabbed Kaie's face in her hand, gripping her cheeks. "Tell me you understand. Tell me you agree to do what I say."

"I... yes..." Kaie went slack. She'd lost. But it wasn't over.

"Not good enough. Tell it to me clearly. Let's make sure we all understand."

"I submit to you, Tankako. I'll... obey." At this Tankako grinned widely and let go, patting her on the shoulder.

"Good Kaie, good. I'm glad. I think we're going to enjoy our time together," she said. "Now go, follow the others and take care of business."

**. . .**

The journey to find the rival group of ashikabi and their sekirei wasn't horribly long, but it was long enough for Kaie to think. It was more than long enough for her to regret. How could she have just stood there? She was filled with anger, but it was all directed at herself. She'd tried to tell herself that she'd been outnumbered, that her enemies all had their ashikabi, while hers has been unconscious. In the end though, she just felt like a coward who'd walked away and left her ashikabi in the clutches of his kidnappers without even trying to save him.

Now she was just a tool working at the behest of those same kidnappers. The thought left her disgusted. How could she ever stand beside Madoka again? That didn't matter right now, though. She had to survive. She wouldn't let it end this way. She'd find a way to fix this and worry about the rest later.

The anger, the sorrow, the self-loathing all faded. All that was left was icy focus. Coldness.

"Now, we're about there. Are you going to do your job?" It was the first one she'd "met," Kayoama.

"I don't see that I have a choice in the matter," Kaie responded evenly.

"Don't screw this up, you know what happens if you do." Kayoama needn't remind her. Out of everyone assembled, Kaie was the most aware of what was at stake.

They'd come to a, seemingly empty, park. It was much smaller than the one she'd first met Madoka in, but it was secluded enough. They'd be able to have a quick brawl without attracting too much attention.

"We've been keeping an eye on them, they'll be meeting here soon. They think we aren't aware of their activities. They're really not that careful, but they are strong, which is why we haven't finished them off yet," another of the sekirei said. She brushed a strand of long black hair over her shoulder. She looked frustrated. There was definitely a grudge between the two groups.

"How many?" Kaie asked her. Her demeanor seemed at least a bit more amenable than Kayoama's.

"Three ashikabi, but one has two sekirei, and they're both strong. It's those two that have kept things at a stalemate," the black-haired one answered. It seemed that numbers-wise, the battle would be even. Kaie would need to be the deciding factor.

"Let's just hurry and get this over with. We're not here to assassinate them, we just need to beat them," one of the ashikabi spoke. Kayoama's, by Kaie's observation. Iwao and another ashikabi, the one who was in charge of sedating Madoka, had stayed behind.

"Of course." Kaie let out a small sigh. No need to put it off any longer. She had more grief with the sekirei she was with, but in reality all other sekirei were her enemies. She had no reason to hold back, it was just another battle now.

She just wish she knew what would happen to Madoka if she fell. Surely they'd just release him, right? Did they know that he had more sekirei? No, she had to make it through this. There was no room for chance in her mind.

They progressed down a short flight of stone stairs and followed a dirt path. They didn't have to go far. Their opposition was just arriving.

"Oh come on, they found this spot too?" One of the "enemy" ashikabi grimaced.

"Ichiro-sama, I don't recognize that one," that ashikabi's sekirei pointed at Kaie.

"Don't mind her, she's just here to help us get rid of you," Kayoama told them.

"What do you say we end this, hm?" Kayoama's ashikabi said. "I'm getting sick of you idiots."

Kaie didn't wait for any more words to be traded. She walked off to the side, staring at the enemy group until one of them met her eye. Kaie lifted a hand and waved her over. She had an opponent.

"Number 46, Seitorakka," her opponent spoke her introduction. Her weapon seemed to be a morning star, a club with a spiked ball on the end. It was of average size, and didn't seem to be anything special.

"62, Kaie," Kaie responded tersely. That was enough, and the fight began. Seitorakka's attack was straightforward, charging in and swinging her weapon at Kaie's head. Even for a probing attack, it was reckless. Kaie dodged to the side and swiped out with her whips, striking her opponent's side and knocking her off balance.

Kaie took a moment to scan the area. The other three on both sides had all begun to battle as well. No eyes were on her. Even her opponent's ashikabi's attention was split. It seemed Seitorakka was one of the sekirei who shared her ashikabi.

This information made Kaie think.

She let the battle drag on, just a little. Her opponent had power, but it was a bad match-up. Kaie was too agile and could keep her opponent at a safe distance. Kaie gradually led her opponent away. Nearby was another set of stairs to the lowest level of the park. Kaie halted, feigning as if she had stumbled. In reality, she just shifted her weight.

Her opponent leapt in, and Kaie snapped her whips forward. She wrapped them around Seitorakka's forearm and tugged. She let the whips go slack and fall away as Kaie slipped around her opponent. Seitorakka was sent, face first, down the stairs. Kaie jumped down the whole flight, landing on her opponent's back. She quickly found the sekirei crest and began to recite her chant.

"Whip of my pledge, strike down her ashikabi's resolve!" With those few words, her Seitorakka's struggles soon ceased. The rest of the sekirei were still locked in combat. At this moment, Kaie knew she was effectively invisible.

It wasn't right, it wasn't what a sekirei was supposed to do in this situation, but she had something more important to worry about. She ran.

**. . .**

She moved as fast as she was able. All she could hear was the wind rushing past her ears. She prayed that her memory would not fail her. A left here, a right a block later. Finally, yes, she was back to where they were keeping Madoka. She was positive.

She found the back entrance that she'd been lead through twice before. A quick test of the door-handle, just in case, confirmed it was locked. It was simple to rip the door open with her whips. Property damage be damned, she wanted her ashikabi back.

It was empty.

"Wh- no! Madoka-kun!" She cried out, but the only answer was her own echo. Was she wrong after all? Of course not, the place was identical. It was the right place, she'd just been too slow. "No. No, no, no..." Kaie clutched her head in her hands. Had they moved him out of caution or because of her escape? She paced rapidly back and forth, hyperventilating as she tried to hold back tears and think straight.

She was still there, so Madoka was alive. That was good. She had no idea where he was, or even where she should begin looking. That was very bad. She didn't even have time to go for help. The longer she was missing, the more likely they'd just cause an "accident."

She rushed back out the door, and continued her worrying. She'd begin to walk one direction only to doubt herself and move in another. She didn't even travel ten feet from the, now broken, door in total. If only she could just _feel_ where he was. Was such a thing even possible? Was their bond simply too weak?

"Ah, so you came here after all," a familiar, and quite despicable, voice spoke. Kaie finally pulled her hands away from her head and looked up to see Kayoama. "As you've probably already figured out, your ashikabi is still fine. You're on thin ice though. We won the fight, and you helped, so we're going easy on you this time. If you come back quietly, we'll work out what to do with you next. Otherwise, well..." Kayoama pulled out a cellphone and held it up threateningly, thumb hovering over a button. It was probably set to speed-dial whoever had Madoka.

Kaie's lips twisted with fury. How dare they keep holding Madoka over her, threatening him. She saw Kayoama's thumb twitch closer to the button, and her arms went slack.

"Back where?" Kaie asked, eyes turned downward.

"Don't worry about that." Kayoama crossed her arms with an impatient scowl.

"Will Madoka be there?" She tried not to sound too desperate.

"Who knows? Now come on." With that, she knew. She couldn't just hope Kayoama would lead her to Madoka. They wouldn't have moved him just to bring her right to him again. For all she knew, she'd be led into a trap and disposed of.

"Why are you using me?" Kaie asked, her tone of voice utterly neutral. The anger had faded, but she would not be paralyzed again. The coldness returned to her. She began thinking once more. She needed to gain an advantage. She stared, her eyes empty, into Kayoama's.

"Why? Why not? Makes our life easier. Besides, seems like Tankako really hates you for some reason, so it's win-win for her," Kayoama said, shrugging carelessly. "Now _come_ _on,_ my arm's getting tired."

"That's exactly right. Easier. There were four of us today, and there were four, if not more, of you in the past. Did you just feel safer having someone expendable taking the lead?" Kaie asked, cocking her head to the side.

"Wh-"

"No, you used me, and won, today because I'm better than you." Her wrist flicked and she whipped the phone from Kayoama's grasp. Her other set of whips grabbed the other sekirei's ankle and pulled her from her feet. Kaie pounced, her hands crashing down on Kayoama's throat. She lifted her back up, and slammed her head into a nearby wall. The girl slumped down and Kaie once again used her chant to end another sekirei's progress in the Game.

Without a second glance at the girl, she quickly turned and retrieved Kayoama's cellphone. She let out a short sigh of relief, it was still working, though a little scuffed up and worse for wear. She paused. Now what? She'd taken out Kayoama and gotten her phone, but she realized now she didn't know any numbers!

"Think, think! You've seen Madoka use his a bunch of times!" Kaie berated herself. Surely she could recall at least one set of numbers! Finally, maybe, she had something. Her memory was spotty though. She vaguely remembered a combo of numbers, but for the life of her couldn't recall who Madoka had been calling.

"This one... and then..." She slowly punched the numbers into the key-pad one after the other and then held it to her ear as it rang.

"_Hello?"_ It was a male voice. Over the phone though, it was hard to say who it was. It was distorted just enough to be unrecognizable.

"Uh, um, wh-who have I reached?" Kaie asked, trying not to sound too frantic.

"_Errr, who is this?"_ Kaie nearly panicked. What if they hung up? What if it wasn't anyone who could help anyway? Was it Kouji? But it didn't sound like him. Had she gotten it wrong?

"This is Kaie!" She couldn't call herself a sekirei, just in case...

"_Huh? Madoka's sekirei?" _Success!

"Y-yes! Yes! Who is this? It's an emergency!" Kaie exclaimed, relief washing over her. She couldn't exactly celebrate just yet, but...

"_It's Minato. Emergency? What's going on?"_ Minato, that was good. He owed Madoka, right? He'd definitely help. So Kaie quickly explained the basics.

"But now they've moved him. I think I've bought a little time, but soon they'll know I'm still on my own! I don't know what to do!" Kaie tried to keep calm, but the more she spoke about it the more despair sunk in. "It's just like what happened to Uzume. I don't want to be like that!"

_"OK, OK. Umm, l-let me thi-"_

"_Oh for goodness sake... give me that!" _Kaie heard a commotion and suddenly a new voice was speaking. _"Hello? Kaie? It's Matsu! Listen, we can't exactly just go off and pull a grid search. We can try to help you, but unless we know where he is... All I can tell right now is where _you _are by tracking the phone you're using."_

"Umm, then, can you call Madoka's house? If you can get Madoka's other sekirei to meet up with me at least I'll have their help," Kaie replied. She really didn't want to involve them. It felt like giving in, like she'd failed. Her pride wasn't worth protecting right now though.

"_Sure, I'll have Minato do that after we're done. Now, what can you tell me about the ashikabi? I can look them up and find some places they might be hiding."_

"Well, one of them is named Iwao. His sekirei is number 63, Tankako," Kaie explained.

"_All right, I'll get to work. I'll have Minato make the ca-"_

"WAIT!" Kaie suddenly shouted into the phone.

"_Gah, ow! Wh-what?" _Matsu responded painfully, her ear no doubt aching.

"You said you can track this phone right?" Kaie asked.

"_Yeah."_

"What about after I hang up? Will you lose it?"

"_I've got it isolated, I can follow its GPS system."_

"Could you follow a call if I made one?" Kaie was pretty sure call tracing was a thing. It would work with a cellphone, right?

"_Dammit! Why didn't I think of that? Yes, you call one of them and I'll tell you exactly where they are."_

"OK. I think one of them is on speed-dial or someth-"

"_Oh god, speed-dial? You know the name of one right? Just find him in the contact list, I'll bet he's in there,"_ Matsu told her with a groan.

"Err... c-contact list?"

"_Oh boy..." _Matsu then began the tedious process of telling Kaie how to use a modern cellphone. They might have been genetically superior super-beings, but they were often a little bit... sheltered.

**. . .**

"_Hello? Kayoama? Did you find Kaie?"_ the voice on the other end said. There was no response. _"Hey! What's going on? You forget how to speak?"_ That was enough time.

"I'll be there soon," her words were an icy hiss. She hung up. Moments later the phone rang again.

"_Good job, Kaie! I got it! I'll have Minato tell Benitsubasa and the others to head there as well. We'll meet up with you as we-"_

"Don't bother. Tell me how to get there now. I don't have time to wait," Kaie told her.

"_. . . OK. Good luck. First you head to the street."_

**. . .**

Kaie followed Matsu's directions. It wasn't a long journey, but she'd never have found the place on her own. It was a business complex. Numerous businesses had little offices all snug together. Inside one was Madoka. One of them was currently for sale, and that was the one she was headed for. It was a weekend, so most of them were empty, but that one would have absolutely no one inside, except for her enemies and Madoka.

She paused by one of them and scoffed. It was the same business as the storage building she'd just come from. This was how Iwao knew of multiple places to hide a kidnapping victim. Somehow he must have gotten the key for the empty building here. Maybe his family managed the complex, or maybe he'd stolen it. He'd gone through a lot of effort, and now he would reap the consequences. He'd accomplished his goal, so it seemed, but he'd also made Kaie his enemy.

As Kaie approached the for sale building, the other two sekirei blocked her path.

"One chance. Move," Kaie said. "I'll let you cling on a little longer if you wish." The two glanced at each other, and then pulled out weapons.

"Number 33, Mitsuori." The back-haired one, she wielded a large, curved knife in a reverse grip.

"Number 58, Enai." She held a pair of axes.

There answer was clear enough.

"Very well. 62, Kaie." The moment she finished speaking, Mitsuori rushed at her, coming at an angle while Enai headed for a frontal assault. Kaie waited, and then darted to her left, the only direction left open. Her opponents turned to chase her, though now Enai was in Mitsuori's path. Kaie whipped at Enai's ankles, tripping her up and causing Mitsuori to stumble as she tried to avoid crashing into her from behind.

Kaie then whipped Mitsuori in the face and charged in. While Enai gained her balance and Mitsuori clutched at her eyes, Kaie positioned herself between the two.

"Razor Circus!" Kaie spun around and her whips lashed out in all directions, sending the two sprawling. The two climbed to their feet and closed in slowly, thinking they had her surrounded. Mitsuori suddenly twirled her knife around and rushed in. Foolhardy as it seemed, Kaie knew Enai would be ready to attack from the other direction if Kaie tried to focus on Mitsuori's knife rush.

Kaie lashed out, wrapping her whips around Mitsuori's wrist. She then turned her head and, timing it carefully, flipped backwards over Enai's head. She then pulled, dropping down and planting her feet into Enai's back whilst simultaneously pulling Mitsuori forward.

At the last second, realization could be seen in Mitsuori's eyes, but it was too late. The knife plunged deep into Enai's stomach.

"I-I..." Mitsuori was at a loss. Enai could only cough up blood as her strength faded. Kaie then quickly rushed around, using her whips to the bind the two together. Enai was done for and now functioned as dead weight, holding Mitsuori in place.

"Whip of my pledge, strike down her ashikabi's resolve," Kaie chanted, her finger on Mitsuori's crest. That was three. Technically four, if she counted Enai. With both terminated, she loosed her whips from their bodies.

She took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. Just a little more. As long as she pushed forward, as long as she was still standing, she had hope. Madoka was still waiting for her.

She gained entry to the little store and saw Madoka lying on an old tool bench. There was no sign Tankako.

"Wh-, you? Why... did you... they're..." Iwao was there though. So were the other two ashikabi. They looked shocked, as if they'd only looked away for a moment only to turn around and find their sekirei dead at their feet. Well, she supposed that wasn't far from the truth.

"Terminated, yes," Kaie said coolly. That sent the other two rushing outside to their sekirei, leaving her alone with Iwao. "Where's Tankako?" Kaie demanded.

"Right, sure, whatever you say," Iwao chuckled, smirking, though she could see him breaking into a cold sweat. "Look, you win. Sorry. Take your ashikabi and leave!" Kaie just frowned and walked over to him. She then looked up. The building was an old garage, with a high ceiling. She could see an exposed support beam above them.

Her whips suddenly lashed out, wrapping around Iwao's neck, pulling him close. She grabbed his shirt collar and jumped, grabbing the beam and pulling herself onto it, taking a seat. She then dangled Iwao over the other side.

"If I drop you like this my whips will probably take your head off, or your neck will just snap," Kaie said. "Now let me make myself clear. One way or another, your sekirei is being terminated. The only question is whether or not your head stays on your shoulders." Kaie looked into his eyes, no emotions being betrayed. Iwao, however, whimpered and flailed.

"O-O-OK! Tanka-chan! Tankako!" He cried, panicking and frantically trying to keep hold on Kaie's wrist so he wouldn't fall. It only took seconds.

"I'm here. Let him go, Kaie. Deal with _me,_" Tankako said as she walked hurriedly into view from wherever she'd been hiding.

"Good." Kaie jumped down and shoved Iwao aside. She stared at Tankako. This time she had a legitimate question. "Tankako... why?"

"Can you blame me for wanting to be on top for once?" Tankako grinned and chuckled. "Ahh, it was a good plan, wasn't it? You really lived up to my expectations. Actually, you surpassed them. I feel like I ended up helping you more than me in the end. Got rid of a lot of competition, right?"

"Is that what happened before we left?" Kaie asked, her expression still neutral, though now for her own sake. This wasn't a time to lose focus...

"Oh, Kaie, she's so exceptional! A wonderful specimen! Much more valuable than Tanka-chan! She's not even a single-number and her stats are so good!" Tankako swooned, a dreamy look in her eyes, but that look turned into an angry sneer. "Ugh, it was so sickening listening to our tuner day in and day out."

"You did all this... because you were jealous?" Kaie shook her head. It was ridiculous. "I didn't care about any of that." Kaie narrowed her eyes. "Enough, let's end this."

"I've been looking forward to this." Tankako pulled out her weapon. Her hand gripped a handle, and from that handle a long wire ran down to a blade, similar to a cleaver. She swung it and the blade danced in the air at the end of the wire. She was like Kaie, a medium range fighter.

She lashed out at Kaie, the blade darting in like a hornet. Kaie used one set of whips to direct it away, and then snapped out the other set, striking Tankako's stomach, doubling her over. Tankako swung again, this time the blade and wire crackling with energy.

Kaie pulled away, dodging it and the next strike. Once the energy dissipated, she darted back in. Before Tankako could prepare for another swing, Kaie swung wide with both sets of whips, slicing into Tankako's midsection and throwing her off her feet.

Tankako got up, and lashed out again. It was a sloppy shot that went wide, and Kaie retaliated by whipping Tankako's chin, knocking her down again. However, Tankako pulled her weapon back, and it curved down into Kaie's shoulder. She hissed in pain, but grit her teeth and kept her gaze on her opponent. It was a deep wound, but non-threatening.

Before Tankako could regain her balance this time, Kaie struck her weapon arm. It was a raking blow, slicing into the flesh of her forearm and throwing her to a knee. She tried to push back to her feet, but Kaie swung all her whips from the opposite direction, knocking her to the other way.

Tankako fell to her hands and knees, losing her grip on her weapon. One of her arms gave out and the fell, face-first to the floor. Kaie relaxed her stance a little, waiting. Tankako finally got to her feet, but didn't reclaim her weapon. She just stumbled forward toward Kaie.

"Always better, always," Tankako growled, aiming a spiteful, but tired and defeated glare at her.

"Why did it have to matter?" Kaie asked, tilting her head. "I never wanted to be better."

"You try living for over a decade, constantly being told you're second-rate," Tankako spat.

"I... perhaps you're right. But this... this was too far. Madoka-kun had nothing to do with us-"

"Blame yourself! You brought him into it when you chose him! There's no gap between a sekirei and their ashikabi!" Tankako shouted. Kaie just frowned.

"True, but he still shouldn't have been involved, not like this." Kaie shook her head. "But... I'm sorry. For whatever that's worth. If I'd known-"

"Well you didn't, obviously! You were always so carefree! Why couldn't I be happy like you?" Tankako's body shook. "Now... now... I'm... look at me!" Tankako was practically screaming. "Bloody! Weak! A failure!"

"Tankako..." Kaie stepped forward and suddenly pulled her close, putting her arms around her. "Can I... just for a moment?"

". . . whatever. . ." Tankako grumbled, weakly embracing her back. Suddenly she tensed. "You bitch," Tankako hissed. Tankako's hand shot to Kaie's crest. Kaie's hands already hovered over her Tankako's. "Flying blade of m-"

"Whip of my pledge, strike down her ashikabi's resolve," Kaie chanted first. She felt Tankako go limp in her arms. Kaie shut her eyes tightly for a moment, and then let Tankako drop. Five.

"Wh-what... she's... gone?" Iwao whimpered from the side. "Will I... ever again... Will she come back? Y-you just said a few words... I mean. I can get her back?"

"I hope not." Kaie stared at him coldly. "Leave. Now." Iwao flinched and darted out of the room at her command. She then turned and took a step toward Madoka only to see him beginning to push into a sitting position. She froze.

"Oh god, my head..." Madoka groaned.

"M-Madoka-k-. . ." Kaie took a deep breath and walked to this side, trying to keep up an air of calm. "Come on, let me get you home." She quickly tried to help him up. "Can you st-"

"Stop." Madoka grabbed her arm. "I didn't just wake up." Kaie bit her lip.

"Wh-what did you-"

"I was out for most of it, but I heard enough," Madoka told her. "Who was she?" He stared into her eyes. It was like a predator staring down prey. Kaie couldn't think straight. She was helpless.

"Sh-she... she... Tanka-ch... Tankako," Kaie struggled the think of how to begin. "I shared a tuner with her. For the longest time, I thought that..." She shook her head. "Please Madoka... this isn't important right now, you've been drugged, probably more than once, and you really should just let me take you home and-" She babbled on, speaking faster and faster until Madoka placed a finger over her lips.

"Yeah, well... drugged?" Madoka squinted and grabbed his head. "That explains my headache anyway." He slowly shook his head and sighed. "Look. Seeing as I've been drugged, I kinda don't _want_ to get up right now, so how about you explain what's been going on." Kaie pouted and looked away. Trying to appear collected was getting harder and harder. She was going to need to take a lot more deep breaths before this was over.

She did her best to explain what happened, starting with him being taken from the store, and ending with her finally finding him with Matsu's help. She left out the part where she'd threatened to kill Iwao. She couldn't imagine him being OK with that. She didn't know if she'd have actually done it, so she was glad things had gone the way they had.

"Right. Wow." Madoka blinked a few times. "Good to know that Masukagami isn't the only one capable of playing commando."

"Yes, now, can we go? It's important to get you somewhere safe, just in case," Kaie tried to insist.

"Who was she?" Madoka began staring her down again. She shuddered and clenched her fists. Dammit, why wouldn't he let this one go?

"_You're the one keeping the most from him."_ Sukaime's words haunted her once more. And wasn't she right?

"I wanted to be dead by now!" Kaie suddenly blurted out, eyes welling with tears. Madoka's eyes went wide.

"Wh-what?" His voice was shaky. She turned her back to him, face down, shutting her eyes tightly.

"I loved her like a sister! For the longest time it was like we _were_ sisters! At first, we didn't know we'd have to fight. And when they told us, we just kept on pretending! It was easier that way! In the end though, she acted like she hated me and when we parted, it hurt... but even so... I'd always hoped that I'd be terminated before I had to fight her. I'd hoped I would be able to go out peacefully so that in the end I could imagine that she'd go on to the end and be happy." She felt a single tear roll down her face. "I... I... I know I'm not going to make it. I won't get that happy ending. Those days, when I was happy, that's all I wanted. I just wanted to hold on to those forever. Nothing could top that, that's what I thought."

"Kaie..." Madoka whispered.

"So, that's it. That's my story." Kaie wiped her eyes, took one last deep breath to regain her composure, and turned around. "I couldn't let you be hurt to satisfy my selfishness. Now, let's go hom-" Madoka pushed himself to his feet and pulled her into a tight embrace. "H-home...?"

"Stop acting so tough! It's over! Why are you hiding anything from me? I know what hiding things away is like! You saved me, it's over! Just... stop..."

"B-but... I let you get hurt... I abandoned you..." Kaie whimpered. She hadn't left that part out. She'd let her crime be known. "I was ready to abandon you the whole time. I almost did!" That night, when they'd fought to claim the jinki, when she'd almost been terminated. She'd always wondered if, in that moment, she hadn't hesitated because she'd actually wanted to be terminated. She'd wondered if on some subconscious level she'd been compromised, weak. Madoka didn't need someone like that.

"I don't care! You're here _now_! You didn't let me down! You've never once let me down!" Madoka hugged her tighter. She couldn't stand it anymore. She broke down, sobbing into his shoulder. Months of bottled up pain and frustration, she vented it all out right there.

After she finally calmed down, she sat next to him on the workbench.

"I... you're really OK with me?" Kaie asked him.

"Of course. If there's anything I can understand, it's messed up relationships," Madoka told her. "Just... promise me you'll trust me with stuff like this in the future. It bothers me that you were living with something like that hanging over you and I didn't know. I mean, we're stuck together forever right?"

"I... you're right. I'm sorry," Kaie sniffled. She then smiled, thinking about what he'd just said. "Forever..." Well, if it was forever, then there was plenty of time to worry about things later. As for right now... she leaned into him and pressed her lips against his. It had been a long day, and though she still felt guilty for a lot of things, she felt she might have earned at least that. To her delight, Madoka didn't stop her or cut it short.

As her wings faded, she just held herself close to him, her face buried in his shirt. If this is what she had chosen, if this was where she was going to stay, then she'd hold onto it, to him, for as long as possible.

"So, if you still want to go home, I suppose I can handle a bit of walking now," Madoka said after a minute, as the sound of helicopters could be heard approaching outside. "Just promise you'll catch me if I fall over."

"Of course." Kaie smiled and stood up, helping Madoka to his feet. He seemed a little shaky, but he didn't really need her help to stand. They made it away before they could actually see the helicopters, neither really in the mood to stick around and see what happened when they arrived.

Barely two minutes down the road something familiar happened.

Five days a week she would walk home with Madoka, though usually under different circumstances. And on those days, she could expect his other three sekirei to show up as well. She hadn't expected that to happen today, and yet it did. Minato must have called them after all. The three, Benitsubasa, Sukaime, and Oriha, barreled around a corner and screeched to a halt upon seeing them.

Even at a distance he could see Oriha and Sukaime's eyes filling with tears. Benitsubasa just stood there, looking a little shaky.

"Uhh, hey gu-" Madoka began to speak, but the three burst back into motion, practically tackling him with a simultaneous hug. All three, pretty much cheek to cheek, wrapping their arms around him as best they could.

Finally Sukaime pried herself away, though Oriha and Benitsubasa seemed permanently affixed at the moment.

"K-Kaie... I..." Sukaime began to speak, eyes red and puffy, unable to meet Kaie's. "Thank you! Really! And, I... about what I said-" Sukaime began to ramble, fidgeting madly and unable to meet Kaie's eyes.

"Sukaime." Kaie interrupted her. "Just... don't." Kaie was about as happy as she could be for the moment, all things considered. She didn't need Sukaime ruining it by bringing yesterday up again. Sukaime's head snapped up, eyes wide and glistening with tears and emotion. She took a step back and, mouth opening and closing as she searched for words. For once none came out and she looked away before giving a small nod.

She knew Sukaime had probably wanted to apologize and take it all back. She didn't want that. It would have felt cheap. She knew Sukaime had only wanted to say anything because she felt bad now that Kaie had saved Madoka, that much was obvious.

She couldn't forgive Sukaime anyway. She'd been right, but at the same time there was no way she could have known what she was talking about. If she'd let Sukaime try and take her words back, all it would have done is made all the suffering Kaie had gone through because of them meaningless. Sukaime _had _said them and that couldn't change.

"We should hurry back now, Madoka needs to rest," Kaie told them, taking Madoka's arm and pulling him away from Oriha and Benitsubasa. However, rather than supporting him, she instead leaned against him as she led him back. She could feel all their stares, she could tell even Madoka was a little confused, but she didn't care. She had what she wanted. She was as happy as she could be right now.

Thinking about things, nothing could replace her happy days with Tankako. Those had been special, blissful, and innocent. But she didn't need to replace them. Today had been hard, but it had given her more than it had taken. She just had something new now, something just as good. Now she felt like she'd truly taken her place at Madoka's side. She had been foolish for ever wanting to end it early for the sake of memories. She'd never forget what she'd had and what she'd lost, but now she wanted to keep going and make new memories.

* * *

><p><strong>When I first wrote this, the ending was all rainbows, sunshine, and kittens. Then I made it a little... darker. You can kind of feel the unease circulating through the group when Kaie just kind of hogs Madoka for herself at the end after politely telling Sukaime to F off.<strong>

**They just got him back, and then suddenly Kaie just kind of pulls him away again.**

**Hmm, after this I think there are less than 10 chapters left for me to write.**

**Til' next time.**


	35. I Hate Reruns

**I'm glad that some of you appreciate my more grounded and emotion focused approach to Sekirei. We're back into the main story after a sort of detour for the Kaie special, though of course the specials still count as "official" events.**

**Benitsubasa lovers, rejoice.**

* * *

><p><strong>I Hate Reruns<strong>

Madoka had been drugged and kidnapped. It had been quite possibly the fourth most uncomfortable day of his life. It was sad that he could say _being kidnapped_ didn't even take the bronze medal at this point. At least he'd been unconscious the whole time. Beating that was Benitsubasa nearly being terminated and watching a sekirei be butchered by Oriha. Hiromi showing up on his doorstep while he had four inexplicable sekirei hiding in his room was the real bronze medal.

That night he'd quickly come to the decision that there was no way in hell he was going to work. He'd rather quit.

Unfortunately, sekirei ate_ a lot_, so quitting would have been an awful idea. Instead he managed to wrangle himself a full three days off. The first day he'd just rested. Or, tried to. He had four, very attractive and very needy sekirei who all wanted his attention all the time. Kaie, at first his most aloof sekirei, was now much more... aggressive. She had taken to seeking his affection just as much as Oriha or Benitsubasa. At the very least Kaie had still needed to go to work, so that had only been a problem later in the day. Oriha, however, _had_ taken time off to take advantage of his presence at home.

It was smothering. The next day, he'd gone out with Oriha and Benitsubasa. He'd have expected that to vie for a spot in his top ten most uncomfortable moments as well, but they were startlingly well behaved. Apparently Benitsubasa had decided she wanted a music player. Unfortunately Benitsubasa's cut of the photo money didn't cover that, but then Sukaime had just said to use her portion as well. Thus he had taken Benitsubasa to pick a music player, and Oriha to pay for it. Unlike Madoka, Oriha couldn't get multiple days off so it had been off to work with her as well after that.

When Wednesday came, he took it for himself. Not just a day to rest, but a day away from everything, or so one would think. No, he was still plenty involved in the ongoing events he'd been drawn into starting the day he'd met Benitsubasa. With his sekirei staying home or working, he left with a very specific destination in mind.

Things were constantly escalating. He was nervous. No, that wasn't quite it. To speak for the full extent of what he felt would be to say he was scared. He needed to do _something_. During fights he felt like his role was to just stand there, lips at the ready, and pray everything went in their favor. He'd tried building the alliance, but Kaie had nearly been killed because of his oversight. Of course, that same alliance might also be the only reason Benitsubasa was alive.

He was running on threadbare luck and mixed results. He only had one idea at the moment, and thus he found himself at an only somewhat familiar location.

"Now, where was it again?" Madoka stood before a house, the one belonging to Benitsubasa's tuner. He glanced down and saw a small, empty pot. "Right." Within a few seconds, he'd taken the hidden key and let himself in. It was just as barren as last time. "How does he live like this?" He shook his head and wandered in. Part of him wanted to take a closer look at Benitsubasa's old room while she wasn't there to complain, but he refrained. It wouldn't have felt right.

He reached the metal door that barred the way to Satoru's lab and realized he had a problem. Benitsubasa might have been able to figure out, or maybe just remember, the code... but he didn't stand a chance. "Uhhhh... shit." Well, there was always the old fashioned way. He knocked, loudly. Nothing. He knocked again. "It's Madoka! Benitsubasa's ashikabi!"

This time he only needed to wait a few seconds before the door rapidly opened.

"Boy!" Satoru greeted him with a wide grin, but he soon looked confused. "What are you doing here?" He then peered past Madoka and looked more confused, and disappointed. "You didn't bring Benitsubasa..."

"Hey, yeah, no." Madoka rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I, uh, wanted to talk to you. Ask you a few things, really."

"Very well." Satoru sighed, clearly unhappy that he didn't get to see Benitsubasa again. "Come on then." Satoru led him into the basement lab where the science equipment and computers were kept. Satoru plopped down in his office chair and spun around to face him once more. "So?"

"Well, I'm guessing you probably looked into me after we came here last," Madoka began.

"Well, yes." Satoru shrugged. "Wasn't much to find, really. You didn't go to college-"

"I'm aware." Madoka frowned deeply. It was something it seemed he couldn't forget while in Satoru's presense.

"OK, so yes, I looked into you. What about it?"

"You probably also looked up my other sekirei while you were at it then."

"Errr-"

"Show me."

"Wh-what? I didn't even say that I-"

"Look!" Madoka said firmly. "This _game_ is getting serious! The fights are coming faster and faster! I can't fight for them! I can't even fight _with_ them! But if I can at least understand them better so I can support them, then I want to!"

"So you come to me?" Satoru folded his hands in his lap, looking irked from being spoken to like that.

"You're biased. Not just because Benitsubasa was your project and you want her to succeed, but because you love her! If the team she's with succeeds, then chances are so will she! So skip the part where you lie and say you wouldn't dare dig into MBI's records and just help me! If you took the risk to look, then you can take the risk to show me!"

Satoru shot out of his chair, glaring at Madoka. He was older, and while Madoka was taller, Satoru was just plain bigger in every other way that mattered. Madoka clenched his fists and stood his ground. If Satoru decided he wasn't feeling helpful, Madoka knew he was screwed, but he couldn't just back off now.

Without a word, Satoru turned around and got back into his chair, swiveling back around so he could use his computer. Before long, he had a set of files pulled up.

"Number 62, Kaie. Weapon type. What do you want to know, exactly?" Satoru asked tersely.

"I just... need to know how they fight, I guess. Anything that can help me..." Madoka was here now, getting what he thought he wanted, but he didn't even know what questions to ask. Satoru sighed.

"Let's back up," Satoru said, turning back to face him. "The basics might help. All sekirei have a core, that's what gets turned off when they're terminated. From that core they draw energy. That's why they're so powerful. All sekirei channel that energy in some way." He turned back to the computer. "Kaie here is pretty simple. MBI built her whips using technology they found when they discovered sekirei. She can channel her energy along them in varying amounts and wavelengths. That's how she functions in a nutshell."

"Why the whips, though?" Kaie was really good with them, yes, but it was a weird weapon for all out combat. "Why did MBI give her them?"

"From what I can tell, and I don't know too much about this subject, the information was inside her," Satoru explained. "They'd have taken an imprint from her and then built the whips from that."

"I... see..." This was so far over his head.

"Same with Oriha," he pulled up the next file. "Kind of. Number 101, long range, multidirectional, telekinetic forged energy manipulation."

"Multi- tele- what?" Madoka just blinked.

"You've seen her fight, right?" Satoru turned to look at him. Madoka nodded. "You've probably wondered where all those blades come from then."

"It's one of many, many questions I have these days, yes," Madoka replied tiredly. It was exhausting just to think about.

"She has an imprint of those weapons in her." Satoru pointed to his head. "She then uses her sekirei energy to rapidly fabricate them when she needs them to fight. The blades are made of her own energy, so she can manipulate them however she wills as fast as she can think."

"Oh." That kind of made sense.

"It's a higher level ability for sure, hence her being an Experimental. I don't believe any other sekirei can do exactly what she does."

"Then does she lose anything if they get broken?" Madoka asked.

"Not really, she'll just need to use more energy to repair them or make more. I imagine it would fatigue her if she had to do it too often."

"Then, what about Sukaime? You skipped her."

"Number 99, Sukaime. Telekinetic," Satoru said.

"OK?"

"That's it. The rest is sealed."

"Wh-. . . sealed?"

"Yes. But I think I know why." Satoru waved him over to take a closer look. "I believe... she's the first."

"First... what?" She was number 99, that wasn't the first of anything that he could think of.

"Experimental."

"Excuse me?" Madoka's eyes began to widen.

"Kid, you don't just have _two _Experimentals_._ You have three. And one of those is the original prototype." Satoru leaned back in his chair, looking surprised himself. It seemed Madoka had been right that MBI hadn't just started at 100 because it was convenient. They'd started with Sukaime.

"Right, well. Thanks." Madoka stepped away, Satoru slowly rotating his chair to follow. "Onto the main event then." As startling as that news was, it sounded like Satoru couldn't tell him anything more, so it was time to move on.

"Everything I know about Benitsubasa?" Satoru guessed.

"Please. You told us her tuning was incomplete. She's always changing, like she's evolving. If I just knew what she was supposed to be like, then maybe I could help guide her to get stronger faster!"

"Very well." Satoru took a deep breath. "Like I said, all sekirei use 'energy.' Almost all, if not all, sekirei can use that to reinforce themselves. Maybe it's their alien physiology-"

"Alien?" Madoka twitched.

"Don't think about it too much. Anyway, maybe it's that, or maybe it's their sekirei cores, but they're all much stronger and more durable. You see this to a _much_ greater extent in the close range types. The fist and foot types seem to take this to even greater heights. Benitsubasa is one of three sekirei that I know of that can go _even farther_."

"How so?"

"With these three, with Benitsubasa, it's not just an 'inner force' it can be applied 'externally.' She can, or should be able to, manipulate her energy in a very specific way. She can actively augment herself at will."

"The shockwave..." Madoka said, mostly to himself.

"What was that?" Satoru leaned closer, as Madoka had spoken quietly.

"In one of her last fights, she hit the ground, and the ground cracked, but it was like she was able to aim it at her opponent," Madoka told the man. The "shredder" attack must have stemmed from that as well. That wasn't just crazy strength or anything like that, it was this "energy" that Satoru kept talking about. "What is this energy?"

"It's what's in their core. An extension of their life force I guess."

"S-so when she uses it... is she hurting herself?"

"No, no." Satoru shook his head. "Well, in her case, perhaps. A sekirei must use their energy to fight, it's as simple as that. It's not much different than when we use our 'energy' to run a mile. We get tired, and then we rest and recover. They use up their energy, they rest and recover. It's when they're brought to a breaking point in battle that it becomes a problem. They just shut down. They have a much higher limit, but there is no forgiveness when they hit it."

"Is Benitsubasa different? You said it _could_ hurt her."

"In a manner of speaking. She has this energy in her that she hasn't been using because it's been locked away and thus she doesn't even really know how. Everything a sekirei needs to know is generally imprinted in them. Because she was tuned improperly, she can't draw from those imprints. However, that means she constantly has excess energy in her, reinforcing her passively. If she starts using it actively, well, I imagine she'd become more fragile as her reserves were used up."

"So, then what do I do?" Now Madoka was worried. Should he keep his mouth shut?

"She's fighting at less than half her potential, Madoka. Significantly less." Satoru looked him in the eye. "Perhaps I shouldn't have said it like that. Let me be clear, if you can help her tap into her abilities, do not hesitate. Being able to use those abilities will have her use up those reserves, yes, but it will also mean she'll be able to be what she was meant to, and that can only make her stronger."

Madoka shut his eyes tightly. What she was meant to be? What was he to do then? Push her even further? He'd seen her get put herself through the grinder again and again – for him. Was he to encourage that? Was he to make her into something even more dangerous? What would he create if he did this? What was he even supposed to _do_?

"Something troubling you?" Satoru asked. Well, it wasn't like he was trying to hide how he was feeling. Madoka opened his eyes, though he only looked at the floor.

"It's just... I came here to learn all of this, but now-"

"How to use it?" Satoru nodded. "Well, ashikabi-kun, I'm afraid that's your job. For Benitsubasa's sake, I'd love to guide you by the hand, but I don't know enough to do so. And besides, this is your undertaking. I've given you what I can."

"But..." Madoka clenched his fists. He still felt as helpless, as useless, as ever. However, he couldn't just keep begging Satoru. It sounded like it wouldn't get him anywhere anyway. "I understand," he finally conceded. "Thank you. I'll... I'll do my best to take care of her." Of all of them. At this point, he couldn't afford to let them down. He'd never recover from that.

"I know you will, kid. Benitsubasa wouldn't have chosen a loser. She's picky that way." Satoru smiled reassuringly, standing and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Show her that she was right." Suddenly the man walked over to a drawer and pulled it open. He then handed Madoka a small, wrapped package. "This is for Benitsubasa. Give it to her when you think she might need it."

"What is it?"

"Hm. I think it'll be a surprise for both of you. Just... be careful with the timing."

**. . .**

There had been scarce little left to say after that. Madoka had a lot to think about. He hadn't learned much about Kaie or Oriha. He'd always known how they fought, now he just knew the specifics. He wasn't sure what he could do with that. Sukaime was a sort of contradiction. He felt he'd learned both a lot and nothing at the same time. He himself knew more about her than that file had shared – except that she was the first Experimental. That had been a bombshell.

Now he was a little over halfway back home. He wasn't sure what he'd tell the girls when he got back. Should he tell the truth? He supposed he should. At this point, he owed it to them. He was sure they'd be happy to hear that he was invested in them, so what could it hurt? Well, he'd try to talk to Benitsubasa first. It had been her tuner he'd gone to after all. She should have a say.

That last part was going to be pretty easy.

"Uhhhh, hey..." Madoka came to a halt.

"Hey." Benitsubasa was currently in front of him, sitting at the bast of a street sign, cross-legged. "What's up?"

"I could ask the same thing."

"I was waiting for you."

"Clearly."

Silence.

"What were you doing?" Benitsubasa stood up after a short staring match.

"Talking to your tuner about you behind your back," Madoka said bluntly and crossed his arms. Benitsubasa just tilted her head. "Seriously."

"Oh." More silence. "Why?"

"I... needed to know some things, that's all. I figured I should ask an expert."

"Well. Satoru is smart, so, I guess he'd be a good person to ask about things." Benitsubasa didn't seem worried about it, only curious. "What'd you ask?"

"Basically I asked if he could tell me anything about your fighting abilities. Same with everyone else."

"He knew about the rest?" Benitsubasa was surprised by that one.

"Yeah, not quite as much as he knew about you, but he found his way into their MBI files," Madoka told her. "They're going to wonder where I was, you know. Can I tell them?"

"Go for it. They already know I've been to see my tuner before." Benitsubasa just shrugged.

"All right. Thanks." Madoka nodded and walked to stand beside her. "Come on, let's get going." He took one step before Benitsubasa grabbed his sleeve.

"Um... scenic route?" Benitsubasa asked a little shyly.

"Heh, sure."

**. . .**

"What? Did you want to spite MBI again?" Madoka asked Benitsubasa. They were detouring through the park with the tree MBI had relocated. "Because I'm not letting you push me off a branch again. You can climb it by yourself."

"No. This place is just... a nice memory for me now. That's all," Benitsubasa responded, not looking at him. "You could make it even better if you wanted." Benitsubasa was being about as subtle as she was capable of. He knew she wanted him to kiss her. It was weird. He felt like it would almost be wrong to reject her at this point. What reason did he have at this point? They'd kissed a number of times in recent memory. And, well, he had to say he liked it. It wasn't like there were witnesses, right?

Actually, it seemed there were.

"Ah, well... unless you had something else in mind, I'm afraid that'd be too conspicuous." Madoka pointed off to the side with his thumb. They could see the backs of a young couple's heads as they sat on a park bench facing away from them. He paused for a moment, some tiny part of him ringing warning bells. There was something familiar about them. He tried to shrug it off.

"Fine." Benitsubasa's face scrunched into a disappointed frown. But then she averted her eyes, cheeks flushing. "Your room has good memories too..."

"You're getting crafty. Come on, let's hurry up. It's getting dark." He saw Benitsubasa's face twitch and redden further. He was sure Benitsubasa had the wrong idea, but personally, he just wanted to get out of the park now, not wanting to tempt fate. He couldn't say for sure anything was wrong, but why risk it?

It seemed the young couple had a similar idea. He really wished they hadn't voiced it.

"Yukari-chan, it's late. We should go home. We can look more tomorrow." It was... well... Madoka had no idea what gender that voice belonged to.

"Fine, fine. I just want to help you find her! We've been looking _forever_." That was definitely female. Benitsubasa heard it too.

"What?" Benitsubasa spun on her heel to face the park bench couple. She looked ruffled. "That name... those voices."

"Oh crap," Madoka muttered under his breath. Benitsubasa _never_ let things go.

"Hey! You two! Show your faces!" Benitsubasa shouted at the two. He hadn't even had time to _try_ stopping her. He watched the couple stand up and walk around the bench to face them. Madoka's pupils became pinpoints. It was the girl and the sekirei who had nearly killed Benitsubasa. Without Avaron and Masukagami, they would have.

"_Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit!"_ Madoka wanted to run away _really_ badly. He couldn't risk this fight again! Not with just Benitsubasa.

"Whoa. Well isn't this fun!" The girl, Yukari, grinned. She then brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "Didn't we crush you already? Look, I'm tired so I'll let you off easy this time if you're actually feeling talkative and can keep your bitch under control."

"What do you want?" Madoka grit his teeth, putting a firm hand on Benitsubasa's shoulder as she bristled.

"I'm looking for a guy. He's somewhere in the middle of the city, a little closer to the north I guess. He's become known as the Feral Ashikabi. Kind of a wild card, gets into all kinds of trouble. Screwed over the Ashikabi of the East recently, I guess. I'm hoping he knows stuff. Heard about him?"

"Uhhh." Madoka had an idea. Wasn't sure he wanted to share it though.

"Come on! He's kind of a big deal these days! He has this little clan going or something!" Yukari looked impatient. "You'd _better_ know something! I don't have time for useless people!"

"Oh for the love of..." Madoka's face fell into his palm and he took a deep breath. He then exchanged a glance with Benitsubasa before speaking. "That's probably _me_." Yukari gave him a screwed up look of disbelief before bursting into hysterics, laughing uncontrollably.

"Th-that's a... that's a good one!" Yukari said, gasping for breath. "But no, I said he's a _big_ deal. Not some loser with a cranky little twit following him around." Madoka wished she hadn't said that.

"Don't. Call. Madoka. A loser," Benitsubasa growled dangerously, teeth gritted. "I'll gut you."

"Beni-" Madoka tried to calm her, but she shrugged his hand off.

"No! You're my ashikabi! I'm not letting anyone talk bad about you! I'm not letting her look down on you! On either of us!" Benitsubasa shouted, taking a stance. "Come on! Just try me!"

"Really now? We're doing this again? Ugh, whatever. Shiina, you know the deal by now." Yukari shook her head. Dammit! It was happening all over again! It was too late to stop this, he quickly backed away as Shiina stepped forward.

He then felt a pit grow in his stomach. In his stress he'd almost forgotten. This girl was Minato's sister!

**. . .**

"I guess we don't need introductions this time, huh?" Benitsubasa glared at her opponent.

"I'm glad you got more time with your ashikabi. Did you enjoy it?" Shiina asked her, not taking much of a fighting stance.

"What's it matter to you?" Benitsubasa scoffed. What was he playing at? His nice guy routine was sickening.

"Do you really want to fight that badly?"

"Of course! It's why I'm alive!" Benitsubasa spat. "Stop trying to get in my head!" She flew at him, throwing a punch, but he leaned aside and placed a palm against her forearm. The agonizingly familiar pain hit her and she saw veins in her arm bulge. She pulled her arm away and spun, shooting a kick at his midsection. He jumped back barely in time, the heel of her boot grazing him.

He did the same to her leg and she fell backwards. She pushed herself into a roll and came to a knee. She winced as her weight came to rest on her injured leg. Her knee was all burning pins and needles.

"Death Flower!" Benitsubasa's eyes went wide. She remembered that too. Using her good leg she pushed herself up and away, but it wasn't that easy. She felt the waves of pain bringing energy hit her. It radiated through her whole body and once more she hit the ground. She knew she couldn't afford to wallow in frustration and pushed herself to her feet.

She glanced down and looked herself over. Her clothes were starting to show the abuse she was taking. At this rate she'd end up naked, and that would just be humiliating. So far she just had a few nicks along the hem of her top and a hole in one her short legs. With a sudden blush she placed her hands over her rear. Fortunately she didn't feel a hole, so that was good. She didn't need a repeat of what had happened after fighting the lightning twins.

What she did need was a strategy, but it was hard to think. She felt something strange within her. It felt like fear, but it was too soon to be that worried! She'd lost last time, sure, but she'd thrashed him good before being beaten! She could do that again, but better! She was stronger now!

So what was holding her back? Where did the fear come from? But then she knew. It was like she could follow it, like there was a wellspring that it drew from. She glanced over her shoulder and saw Madoka's face and another pang of fear struck her heart. He was scared for her. Did he not think she could do this? Did he already think she was going to lose again?

She really couldn't think straight. Why? Why would Madoka doubt her _now?_ Hadn't he seen how strong she was getting?

Suddenly Shiina was in front of her. She'd completely lost focus. She threw an arm up, but that just made it easy for him to grab. Worse, it was her already injured arm. She cried out as his hand clamped down. The agony spread from his hand up into her shoulder, and then deeper into her body.

She tried to punch him with her other arm, but he grabbed her wrist.

"Death Garden!" As he spoke, the pain intensified significantly. She could see his brow furrow, as if he was puzzled by something. Just like the last time they fought, but she didn't have time to ponder why.

She just couldn't find the strength to overpower him. The pain spread up her other arm, countless invisible knives and needles tearing at her flesh. She watched as her sleeves began to fray and crumble before her eyes. Where he touched her arms sensation began to fade to an almost merciful numbness, but she couldn't afford to go numb in a fight.

"GET OFF!" In desperation she headbutted him and he stumbled back. The pain didn't end though, but neither did it spread further. She threw a sloppy punch at him, hoping to catch him while he was reeling, but she could barely control her arms right now. She was being torn apart bit by bit, and each time she got hurt she became so much weaker. His way of fighting wasn't fair!

He simply ducked under her punch and shoved her with both hands. He just pushed her, but just the act of being touched by him was unbearable. She nearly fell over as she staggered away, clutching her midsection with trembling arms.

"Forgive me." She looked up as Shiina spoke. "Death Flower!" She could barely move, haphazardly trying to dive away. It was impossible to say how much it really helped. As she came to rest, face down in the dirt, she coughed. She wasn't dead, so that was... something. As she began to push herself up, she took stock of her condition. Her short sleeves were even shorter now, practically gone, and shorts had more holes in them, though by some miracle nowhere indecent, and she had tears all over her top. That was just her clothes. She didn't want to know what had happened to her body, but what she felt was a mix of daggers and numb spots.

"Don't... talk like... I'm done..." Benitsubasa panted on her hands and knees. Had Shiina gotten stronger too? How could she be losing so badly? Why couldn't she do this? She tried to rise, but her limbs gave and she fell back down. "Dammit..." she whimpered, clawing helplessly at the dirt. "Why?" How could she be so pathetic in front of Madoka? Was this why he didn't believe in her, or was this _because_ he didn't believe in her? "Why can't I win?" She hit the ground weakly with her fist. "Why, Madoka, why? Why can't I win? Madoka!" She cried out in sorrow and frustration. Why wouldn't he let her win?

**. . .**

Madoka could only watch as Benitsubasa gotten beaten down more and more. Each time it shook him. He wanted to help her, but he couldn't. Was he about to watch her die? The first time she'd just barely made it. This time there would be no rescue. His heart began to ache. He didn't want to watch this again. But he was useless.

She was going to die.

She called out to him. There was none of her usual fire or anger, just despair. And accusation. It felt like she was blaming him. And why shouldn't she? He had come to that realization earlier. He couldn't do anything. He'd finally really tried, and come up with nothing.

_The link between you two is an active one._

_I could feel it. The thing is so can the others. It's a sekirei thing._

Those words came back to him and he understood. Benitsubasa was really asking him why. He'd been so scared and she'd felt it. To her it must have felt like hopelessness. He'd already failed to take care of her.

No, he couldn't just give up on her. Even if it was too late, he wouldn't just stop while she was still there, calling him. Doubts, fear, the past, who Yukari was – none of that mattered right now.

"I..." His voice caught in his throat, but he pushed himself to keep speaking. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it! You're... you're my tough girl! So get up!" he shouted to her with as much strength as he could. She had to get up. He needed to see her get up.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa felt burning hot, and it had nothing to do with the blazing pain of imaginary needles. Her heart was hammering away inside her and suddenly all that pain was secondary. Madoka wanted her to stand. She couldn't let him down now!

Shaking as she was, she steadily pushed herself to her feet. She'd done it! He'd seen right? Of course he had! He'd seen her be strong!

"_I did it, Madoka! Just like you asked!"_ she thought. She'd been stupid, thinking she'd lost. How could she ever give up in front of him? Well, never again!

"What a cruel ashikabi, throwing your sekirei into more abuse! End it, Shiina!" Yukari ordered her sekirei. Benitsubasa ground her teeth. Couldn't see just be quiet for once? She saw Shiina move closer, raising a hand to try and finish her. Benitsubasa took a big step forward and grabbed his wrist in a sudden burst of motion.

"DAMMIT, WE'RE HAVING A MOMENT HERE!" Benitsubasa roared furiously, her hand complaining as she forced herself to grip Shiina with crushing force. She then kicked with her, while not good, better leg and sent Shiina skidding away across the ground.

**. . .**

Madoka was stunned. Benitsubasa hadn't just gotten up, she'd sent Shiina flying. It couldn't be that easy, could it? Something like believing in her to make her stronger felt like fairy tale magic, and yet the results were right in front of him. But no, she was still exhausted. He could see her trembling and struggling for breath.

Deep inside though, he felt something odd. Pride. She was so strong, and she was his. She was doing this for him. He was proud of her, he couldn't deny that feeling. She was succeeding now, and he wanted to keep seeing her succeed. He never wanted to see her lose again, never wanted to see that pain and doubt in her eyes.

"Y-you meant that, right? What you just said?" Benitsubasa looked back at him over her shoulder, chewing her bottom lip anxiously.

"Yeah. I did." Madoka nodded. Her head snapped back forward, and she began fidgeting. He couldn't see her face, but he could see her ears turning red. Suddenly in a fit of giddiness she clasped her hands to her cheeks, swaying happily back and forth mumbling things under her breath. She then pulled her hands back and slapped both her cheeks, calming herself back down. Kind of.

She popped around, hopping off the ground with both feet, to face him. She had a big smile on her face. He'd never seen her this happy in the middle of a fight. Excited? Yes. Happy and blushing? This was a new level of strange.

"OK! I'll take care of this real quick then!" Benitsubasa told him cheerily and then spun back around. He felt a little more at ease now. She seemed muck lighter now than she had before. It made no sense, but he thought she really could do this now.

**. . .**

She'd just made Madoka a promise. Benitsubasa couldn't fail now. She took a deep breath and forced the smile off of her face. She needed to be focusing on fighting. She could fawn over Madoka later.

She could still feel a weakness in her. She was damaged, no doubt, but she'd fought through pain before. She'd do it again. The damage felt like it was deeper than what she'd experience in the past, so she'd need to make this quick, just like she said. She couldn't afford to take a counter attack either.

For the moment though, she was energized. While she was still riding that high, she'd strike.

She rushed forward, aiming to close the gap as fast as she could. Of course, he wasn't going to make it easy on her. He raised a hand and she could pretty much predict what he as going to say.

"Death Flower!" It seemed that was his go to move when he needed to hit at range. She had to push through.

"SHREDDER!" She threw her arms forward and felt Shiina's attack hit her. She was rocked back onto her heels, but kept her feet. Her eyes went wide as she looked at her hands. Her gloves had been blown clean off. There was no trace of them left anywhere. Her hands had also taken a pale, sickly coloration and she couldn't really feel them. Somehow though, she'd mostly neutralized the attack.

She was on the move again in a flash. Her hands were pretty much done for, but she wasn't letting that stop her. Shiina was clearly befuddled, not expecting her to be able to keep fighting like that. He lifted a hand, but she just kept going. She moved like she was headed past him, ducking low, but twisted and lifted a knee, spearing it into his gut. He was her brakes, all her momentum being directed into his rib-cage. She then wrapped her arm around his neck, squeezing it between her forearm and bicep.

Benitsubasa fell backwards, slamming Shiina's face into the ground with all her weight behind it. She then rolled back, a little unsteadily, to a knee. She sprang back up as Shiina tried to rise, and found every ounce of strength she had left and put it into a kick that caught him in the chin.

Shiina became airborne and arced back and up through the air. As he began to fall, Benitsubasa charged and intercepted him with her shoulder, bashing him farther back into a painful crash landing. That... had to have done it. There was no way he could keep fighting after that kick, right?

Well, he wasn't terminated, so that wasn't good. He was still struggling to move.

"Hey. Drag him back over here," she heard Madoka tell her. She looked at him, wondering why. He then mouthed 'alive' to her. She gave him a questioning look, but he silently confirmed that's what he wanted her to do, so she grudgingly trudged over and grabbed a fistful of Shiina's hair. His struggles were weak and only earned him her heel flying back into his stomach to quell any further attempts at resistance.

"Wh-what are you doing? Stop!" Yukari cried. She was ignored as Madoka simply motioned that Benitsubasa could put Shiina down now. She did so, with no attempt at grace, simply letting go and watching him flop to the ground.

**. . .**

"Stop? Why? Did _you_ stop?" Madoka asked her angrily as he walked over. "You're a child who uses her sekirei to carry out her tantrums!"

"Shiina!" Yukari threw herself over Shiina, clutching him tightly and sobbing. "Stay away!" She looked ready to use her own body to try and protect him, trying to cover as much of his body as she could with her own. Madoka just knelt down next to the two, Benitsubasa standing close by at the ready. "Wh-what do you want?"

"Just thinking."

"Huh?" Yukari looked up at him, tears glistening in her eyes and running down her face.

"You know, I've seen a good number of people in your situation by now. You know how many I've seen cry?" he asked her, but she gave no response. Right now he was putting a lot of effort into looking in control. On the inside he was shaking. It had been way too close. "One. You." He'd seen confusion, frustration, anger, and contempt, but never tears. This girl was crazy, but she cared.

"S-so what? Does it make you feel happy?" Yukari glared at him defiantly.

"A little, yeah." Madoka shrugged. Not for the reason she thought though. "By the way. Have you spoken to your brother recently?" Yukari did a double, then triple take. That had caught her off guard. He had to be careful, he was almost starting to enjoy having the upper hand like this. Well, he supposed his sanity could only last so long under these conditions.

"I... what... how...?"

"Yeah, Minato's been looking for you. He's an ashikabi as well. And Kuu's been looking for you." Madoka shifted his gaze to Shiina.

"K-Kuu-chan?" Shiina responded weakly from underneath Yukari.

"Yeah. Guess you've been doing the same, huh?" Madoka stood up. "Come on. This fight's over."

"Y-you're not... going to... Shiina?" Yukari was stunned for a good number of reasons by now.

"No. Your brother's a nice guy, but his sekirei are scary. I really don't want to piss him off." Madoka cleared his throat nervously just thinking about. "Besides, I really hate this game."

**. . .**

In the end, Madoka had found himself making an unexpected extra trip to Izumo. Thankfully as it was later in the day, it was easier to avoid unwanted stares as they dragged their battered sekirei along with them. Also in their favor was the fact that neither were really bruised or bloodied. Benitsubasa had only really hit Shiina a few times, and Shiina's abilities didn't seem to cause visible damage... except to Benitsubasa's clothes. That said, it was slow going and Madoka, who was used to walking a lot, was getting sore feet. He felt like he'd walked from one end of the city to the other at this point.

He repressed a groan when they finally reached Izumo. He still had to make it home after this. Yukari would probably get to spend the night. The irony of it wasn't lost on him.

The door was soon answered by an ever bubbly Musubi.

"Madoka-san! What are you doing here this late? We were getting ready for bed!" She didn't seem upset though. Then again, she rarely did.

"I brought Minato a present." Madoka stepped aside so she could see Yukari and Shiina. Musubi immediately gasped and shot forward to hug a startled Yukari.

"W-wait... then... Musubi is a-" Yukari seemed to be putting the puzzle together.

"Yep! Musubi is a sekirei!" Musubi told the girl. She then let go and spun around. Madoka and Benitsubasa put their hands over their ears, predicting what was coming. "MINATO-KUN! COME HERE QUICK!" It seemed being a sekirei helped with her vocal strength as well.

"Musubi! You're going to wake people up!" Minato scolded her nervously as he arrived, hurrying out the door. He just about fell over in surprise when he saw who was standing next to his sekirei. "Y-Yukari?"

"I found her wandering around in a park and thought I should bring her here," Madoka explained.

"I-I see." Minato looked like he was taking a moment to process things. He looked at Shiina, and then at Benitsubasa. It didn't take him long to process what he saw that time. "You... fought." He sounded disappointed. "Even though you knew." Apparently he was disappointed with Madoka specifically.

"I... yeah. Well, I'd only seen her picture once on that tiny phone screen. The fight was practically over by the time I realized who she was." He was lying. He'd made a deal with Matsu for one, and two he really didn't think Minato needed to know the full story regarding his history with Yukari. "After that I called Benitsubasa off right away."

Actually, he'd pretty much let her have her way with Shiina. Why? He wasn't sure. It was true that he'd momentarily forgotten who Yukari was, but... why hadn't he tried to stop the fight? It would have saved Benitsubasa a beating. Had he really been that scared? Yes, he had. He knew he'd been totally paralyzed. But then, after he'd pulled himself together, why had he let Benitsubasa keep fighting?

He knew that one too. At that point, he'd wanted to. He hadn't cared about Minato, Yukari, Shiina, or even little Kusano who desperately wanted to see her brother sekirei. He'd wanted to see Benitsubasa win that badly. Well, selfish as that had been, he'd still brought the two back. Shiina's bruises would heal.

"Minato... I'm sorry," Yukari spoke and stepped forward. "I saw your calls and texts, but... I was so caught up in the sekirei thing. I didn't know how to explain." She shook her head. "I can't believe we both got mixed up in this." She then looked at Musubi. "I guess this explains why Musubi is so strong."

"Y-yeah." Minato nodded, looking less upset now.

"Why don't you get Kusano? I'm sure she's dying to see Shiina." Madoka reminded him. "You can bring them inside in a minute, but they'll have more space out here."

"She's really here?" Shiina asked, looking more lively than he'd been even _before_ being beaten into the dirt. Minato nodded quickly and hurried back into the house. He soon came back, leading his smallest sekirei by the hand.

"Shii-chan?" Kusano's eyes went wide. A moment later she'd pulled away and leapt into Shiina's arms. Shiina stumbled, but was able to grab hold and return her embrace. Kusano cried with joy and pulled herself close to Shiina. "Shii-chan! I missed you so much!"

"I know. I'm glad you were OK all this time. I always worried," Shiina replied, affectionately stroking her hair. Madoka could see Yukari getting teary eyed, and Minato looked happy too. Madoka was glad that in the end he'd chosen this path and let this happen.

"Wh-why is Shii-chan all beat up?"

"Ah, w-well..." Shiina chuckled nervously. Kusano put things together about as quickly as Minato had and was soon glaring at Benitsubasa.

"You hurt Shii-chan, you meany!"

"Back off! I'm in just as much pain! That son of a b-" Benitsubasa wasn't about to hold back, even with a child, so Madoka put a hand on her head to silence her gently. He'd rather preserve the good mood as much as possible.

"It's OK, Kuu. You can forgive her. It's thanks to her we got to see each other today." Shiina was able to silence Kusano as well. She nodded tearfully, opting to ignore Benitsubasa rather than thank or yell. It was an acceptable middle ground. Benitsubasa wasn't very gracious at accepting niceties from other sekirei anyway.

"Well, it's getting late. We should get going," Madoka spoke up. "Glad I could help in the end, even if things got a little rough."

"No, come in. You can stay if you're tired," Minato tried to protest.

"Nah, the rest of my sekirei are probably climbing the walls worrying about me by now." Madoka shook his head. "I've been out of the house all day. You just focus on your sister, OK?"

"Yeah. Thanks." With that, Minato began to lead his two sekirei, his sister, and Shiina into Izumo. "Good night."

Yukari paused for a moment as she passed by Madoka. Her mouth opened, and she seemed to be struggling to think of something to say. She'd begin to form a word, and then choke on it. Finally, she came up with just two.

"I'm... sorry." With those two words said she joined her brother, leaving him with Benitsubasa.

"Well, let's go." Madoka stuck out his elbow. "Go on, do your thing." He smirked in amusement as he saw Benitsubasa get flustered before giving in to her desires and clinging to his arm. Her warmth was welcome, for fading light came with fading temperatures as night took over.

Benitsubasa ended up letting go though, right before they reached their final destination that day. She suddenly stepped back and spun around in a lazy circle before grabbing his hand and tugging sharply. With her strength it easily made him lose his balance and lean over. At the same time she shot up and took his cheek with her other hand and pressed her lips to his, lighting up the night with her wings.

"Impatient?" Madoka asked as she pulled away, feeling his heart race.

"I decided that any place is good enough for that. You're what matters. That's all." Benitsubasa embraced him tightly.

"Yeah. I hear you."

* * *

><p><strong>Uh oh, guys. Uh oh. They're getting all... affectionate and stuff. And we got an early reunion for Kusano and Shiina. That'll be touched on more in coming chapters. Also, the less than 10 chapters thing might have been a bit off. Still, we've got less than a quarter of this story to go.<strong>

**Til' next time.**


	36. I Hate Holdouts

**I Hate Holdouts**

Avaron could only say that she adored Masukagami. She was such a warm presence and sweeter than candy. She would even admit that she loved Masukagami. It was a strange love, but a welcome one and, while she still had her reservations, she couldn't stay away from her darling sekirei.

Even now, Avaron was just relaxing the day away, her head in Masukagami's lap, letting her sekirei gently stroke her hair. She felt herself drifting off as Masukagami's fingers tenderly caressed her.

"Mmm, why can't we stay like this forever?" Avaron asked quietly with her eyes closed, sounding half asleep.

"Well... I think we'd starve to death eventually." Masukagami giggled, continuing her caressing as she spoke.

"No, no." Avaron nestled closer to Masukagami, if that was even possible. "We'd die of dehydration first," she corrected with a tiny, lazy smirk. She cracked an eye open to see Masukagami smiling at her. She did her best to commit that sight to memory before shutting her eye again.

It couldn't last forever. She'd have to let Masukagami go and fight again eventually. She'd have to watch as her precious Masukagami was put at risk in MBI's stupid, ugly game. She really did wish they could stay there forever, wrapped in each others warmth, never having to worry, but they couldn't.

Just the thought of losing Masukagami brought tears to her eyes. It wasn't just Masukagami that she worried about though. She had other people now. She knew Masukagami would be sad as well if they abandoned those people.

Masukagami had told her how she'd actually known Oriha when the two were young and still being "tuned." She didn't want Masukagami to feel alone, and Avaron didn't want to lose anyone either. She was infinitely happy with Masukagami, and she could imagine countless happy years ahead even if she only had her precious sekirei.

In that way, it almost irked her that they'd ever met Madoka and Kouji. The fear of loss was now a constant draw toward danger. And yet she knew she wouldn't feel that draw unless it was worth the trouble. There was something about Madoka that made her keep going back. Something about him that made her want to... protect him. He was a good person, but she could see the cracks.

She felt that Madoka was the best of them. He wasn't broken like she was, and, as nice as Kouji was, he was naive. While those cracks made him vulnerable they also added to him. Like her, he knew the world a little more. And like her, that weight had damaged him. But unlike her he'd come out the other side whole, and that was why they could follow him.

Thanks to Masukagami, she was no longer the shattered, hate filled husk of a person she'd once been, but she couldn't carry the weight of another soul. Masukagami was her light and her source of buoyancy in life, without which she knew she would sink. While Madoka didn't quite show it, for reasons she could understand, he had told her that he too cherished his little sekirei. She believed him.

She could see how he'd changed thanks to them, just as she had. She could also see that it wasn't the same. He hadn't changed because of them as much as he had changed _for_ them. That was the fundamental part of him that she most respected. She had seen the cold ache in the eyes of sekirei with lesser ashikabi. That was not present in his sekirei's eyes. There was an ache, yes, but she could tell that they were supported by him, perhaps more than they supported him. Because of that, Avaron treasured Masukagami so much more.

Would any other sekirei been able to fix her? Masukagami had been so loving and secure. If Avaron had ended up with a sekirei who, instead of being so giving, had needed that same love from her... it never would have worked. It was strength, that capacity, that she lacked that Madoka had.

The thing is, while Madoka had that, she knew she couldn't burden him further or he _would_ succumb to those cracks. Everyone's strength had limits, and something told her that he couldn't take much more pressure right now.

"What is it, Avaron-sama?" Masukagami asked as Avaron slowly opened both eyes, looking deep in thought. Avaron had to smile. Yes, deep, coherent thoughts that she once hadn't been capable of. Now though, in Masukagami's arms, it was so easy.

"Shall we do something? Make ourselves useful, perhaps?" Avaron looked up at Masukagami. "I'm afraid I may have to ask quite a bit of you, though."

**. . .**

As Madoka had suspected, his sekirei had appreciated his efforts to learn about them. And with all his sekirei in mind, there was one thing that he still needed to resolve. He'd never finished talking to Kaie about why his sekirei were acting so especially weird around each other. Benitsubasa and Sukaime actually seemed to get along now, but that was it.

The issue that had first alerted him to a change was that Oriha and Kaie no longer spent time together, and that was continuing. Oriha also seemed... nervous around Sukaime. He had a feeling Sukaime might have done something. He'd need to speak to her, but that didn't necessarily explain why Oriha and Kaie didn't get along anymore. He couldn't imagine that Sukaime would purposefully drive a wedge between the two, not with how she behaved these days.

It was for that reason that Madoka had carefully convinced his sekirei to not meet up with him after work that Thursday. He wanted Kaie alone once more, hopefully without any kidnappings to interrupt him. Now that work was over, he'd led a surprised Kaie to a bench on a quiet, nearby street. Before long the few passersby that had been around had gone on their way.

"Come on." Madoka sat down and motioned for Kaie to do the same. She did so nervously, folding her hands on her lap, looking quite like a guilty child. Now what? How should he begin? He could tell she was worried that he was mad, but he wasn't. He didn't want to make her feel bad when that wasn't his intention.

Before he could decide, he felt Kaie's hand on top of his. It was more distracting than he'd have expected. He couldn't help but feel how soft and delicate her fingers felt on his larger hand. He looked at her, and it was like an unspoken invitation for her to lean against him, head tilted up slightly so she could look into his eyes. It took him an extra moment to notice that her other hand was reaching for his face. Just in time he was able to reach up and grab it, stopping her.

He had a feeling that if he hadn't, his self control would have been overcome. Kaie was undeniably beautiful. Physically at least, she was very _different_ from his other three sekirei. He had a goal to accomplish right now, and letting himself be seduced by her charms would defeat that. Just thinking about it though caused his eyes to involuntarily, or so he told himself, flit up and down her figure.

OK, maybe she didn't need to touch him to seduce him. He was still a young man after all, and he had a _lot _of pent up desires – and he was pretty sure Kaie was willing to fulfill them if only he'd let her. He grit his teeth to steel himself as he lightly pushed her hand aside. Doing his best to force any impure thoughts from his mind for the time being, he prepared to speak. Kaie spoke first though.

"You really do have a favorite, don't you?" Kaie sighed, slumping over in her seat to stare at the ground. "And it's not me, of course. How could it be?"

"Wh- Kaie, that has nothing to do with this." Madoka shook his head, not that she could see. "I just -"

"Want to know why I'm not getting along with anyone else." Kaie clasped her hands together, squeezing tightly as if she was trying to strangle the life out of something. "I know I'm not going to get picked." She was back to that already.

"Kaie-"

"But that doesn't change how I feel! I just want you, if only for a little while before the end!"

"What end?"

"I'm not going to make it. Nothing's changed in that regard. I'm nothing special in the grand scheme of things, I came to terms with that a while ago. I know about the single numbers. I've seen what people will do to win. I've already lost to Benitsubasa, and she's obviously not the strongest. Maybe she can pull off a miracle, but if I really am weaker than her, I won't."

"So? You don't have to win on your own!"

"Have you forgotten? The game's prize is won by the strongest pair, not the strongest team. I'm not your favorite or your strongest. I have no place at the end." He could hear the defeat in her voice and it hurt him. "So I'm sorry if I am resentful of the others."

"Have _you_ forgotten? I hate this game and its rules! You'll always have a place!"

"Don't say that!" Kaie shouted at him, shutting her eyes tightly. "I don't want any false hope! And so what? What do I get if I make it through the end? A life held at arm's reach, never getting what I want? There's no one else for me! I'd _rather_ be terminated!"

"N-no, I-"

"So... just... tell me who it is," Kaie said sadly. "Your happiness is still important, even if I'm not involved. Who is it? I'll protect them for you, so you can be happy at the end."

"What are you talking about?" Madoka felt himself beginning to shake. The way she was talking was that of someone sentenced to death!

"The one you favor most. Who?" Kaie just stared at him patiently. "And don't lie and say it's me." Madoka couldn't take it anymore and shot to his feet. Shock was turning to sorrow, but that was quickly turning to anger. How could she say that to him? How could she ask him that?

"How long have you known me?" Madoka asked her.

"I... umm... n-nearly two months now?" she answered, caught off guard.

"Yeah, that sounds right. Nearly two months living together. I talk to you every day, right?" He was shaking for an entirely different reason now.

"Yes..." The word slid from her mouth slowly. He spun around to face her, eyes wide.

"How the hell could you say _that_ and talk about my happiness in the same breath?" He didn't yell, he just seethed with indignation, his voice an unsteady growl. "You think I haven't agonized over this exact problem? You think I haven't wondered what the hell I'm going to do with the four of you? I know how you feel! I see it every day and I have no idea what to do!"

"Th-then this makes it easier-" Kaie whimpered, shrinking back as far as she could.

"No! Look at me!" Kaie nervously looked up into his eyes. "_This_ is all you're accomplishing! Do you understand?" He saw her flinch at the look on his face and she finally nodded slightly. "If I'm so important to you like you say, then you should know me better than that." He wished he hadn't said that. The choking gasp that came from her throat filled him with regret. That had been cruel and pointless.

"I-I'm sorry, Madoka-sama, I-" Kaie began sobbing piteously, but producing only quiet little gasps as she struggled to not make a scene. "You're right. I-" Without thinking, he reached out and grabbed her wrist. She flinched and made to pull away, but he gripped her tightly. He brought her to her feet and then wrapped his arms around her, holding her close.

"I'm not letting you go like that." Less than two months, maybe, but it felt longer. So much had happened. After what they'd been through, he couldn't accept that he _had_ to lose her. He couldn't accept losing any of them. He could hear her trying to speak, but she produced nothing coherent. He loosened his grip so that he could look at her, though he still gripped her shoulders. "Come on. I'm not done with you just yet."

"Not done?" Kaie blinked, loosing one last tear to roll down her cheek.

"I have an idea. You'll see when we get home," Madoka told her. He wasn't sure she'd like it though.

**. . .**

Masukagami couldn't help but feel a little thrown off. For the last two weeks her time with Avaron had been... wonderful. There could have been more kissing – and other things – but, well, she'd take what she could get. And besides, they still had time to remedy that issue. That wasn't what had her puzzled, though.

Avaron was _not_ a very motivated person. She was smart and generally knew what she wanted, but she'd never just come up with an idea and gone for it, not like this. And yet, there they were out of the house and on their way to cause trouble.

Actually, they'd just arrived.

"Remember, no risks. Failure shouldn't involve you getting hurt," Avaron told her firmly.

"I understand. Shall we?" Masukagami pressed up against Avaron, leaning in for a kiss and spreading her luminous wings. It was worth going through with this plan just for this moment, as far as Masukagami was concerned.

"You _can_ go through windows, right? Even from this far away?" Avaron asked as their lips parted.

"Probably!" Masukagami slid around, literally doing her best to avoid breaking contact as she shifted her position, Avaron to stand behind her and pulled out her large mirror. Taking aim, she chanted her norito and the two vanished.

**. . .**

"Good," Avaron said when her vision turned normal once more. She'd never get used to teleporting with Masukagami. "Now we just have to-" She froze, eyes going wide. Perhaps taking more time to plan would have behooved her.

"Well. Isn't this... interesting." A young man stood up from the desk he'd been sitting at. Well, they were certainly in the right place.

"Isn't it." Avaron clenched her jaw. "Higa."

"I suppose you want your friend's jinki back?" Higa asked, stepping around to the other side of his desk. "Well I'm afraid I don't have it on me right now. Unlike you, I take good care of my possessions."

"I do hope you don't count your sekirei as your possessions, because I'm afraid that would make you quite a liar," Avaron couldn't resist the urge to take the shot at him. "How many do you have left?"

"More than you."

"That didn't help you last time." Avaron took an involuntary step back when Higa just smirked and shook his head.

"Now now, you didn't come here to trade jibes with me," Higa said, leaning back against his desk. "And, since you can't have the jinki, we'll need to make your time here well spent in some other way."

"Tell me that you're not flirting with me. I'd be very angry if you were." Avaron's eyes narrowed. She was getting sick of his attitude.

"Hardly. You're not my type."

"Too independent minded?"

"Too crude."

"Hey!" Masukagami complained. "Err, n-not that I..."

"It's OK. Thank you." Avaron placed a hand on her sekirei's arm to show she appreciated the gesture. Masukagami, emboldened, stuck her tongue out at Higa.

"You're perfect for each other, clearly," Higa said dryly, "but enough of this. Kaiha!" Moments after he called out, they were joined. It was the sekirei that had escorted him when Masukagami had saved Chiho. "I believe you have a grudge with this one, don't you?"

"I-I... wouldn't... g-go... that far..." the sekirei, Kaiha, stuttered nervously.

"Come now, no need to hide it. Let her know exactly how you feel." Higa glared at Masukagami. That was all he needed to say, it seemed.

"W-well." Kaiha was shaking severely. "In... that... case... I WILL!" Her sleeves practically exploded, giant scythe-like blades seeming to sprout from her elbows, apparently taking the place of her forearms. If she had regular arms, it was impossible to tell where they were at the moment.

"Avaron-sama!" Masukagami dove in front of her, blocking the first blow that had threatened to cleave through them both. However, her tiny mirror could only block one blade. She didn't have time for the second. Masukagami pulled back, but the dull back of the blade was then jammed into her stomach.

Avaron felt Masukagami's free hand reach out and shove her. She was sent sprawling, but that was nothing compared to what happened to her sekirei. She grunted as she hit the floor, wincing, and when she opened her eyes she saw Masukagami launched clear through the window they'd come in through, glass and wood shattering.

"Masukagami!" Avaron jumped to her feet, running to the window and leaning out to see what had become of her sekirei. She was alive though, already getting back to her feet. It had been a long fall, but to a sekirei it apparently wasn't even close to fatal.

Avaron did have time to ask Masukagami if she'd been hurt, as she was roughly pushed aside once more by Kaiha so that she could jump through the window herself.

**. . .**

Masukagami watched as Kaiha descended toward her like a bird of prey. Masukagami pulled out her large mirror and then waited for the best timing. Before Kaiha was close enough to strike, Masukagami spun her mirror and Kaiha harmlessly landed where Masukagami had been up until that moment.

However, her plan proved to be a failure. Kaiha immediately spun around. Masukagami dodged the first strike, but the second landed home. Unfortunately, it was the second strike that was the most dangerous, as it put her at the mercy of the sharp edge. It was a light blow, but it tore into her side, making her bleed. She winced and inhaled sharply. It was the first serious wound she'd received in a battle.

"Good! You're bleeding already! Sit still and I'll help you bleed some more!" Kaiha raved madly, not backing off in the slightest. She looked ready to make good on her word.

The issue was that, even in her apparent frenzy, Kaiha's attacks were measured, coming regularly one after the other. Masukagami was stuck on the defensive. Even if one attack of Kaiha missed, there was always another following it. She needed to break the cycle.

Honestly, it might have worked in Kaiha's favor to be a little more frenetic and unpredictable. Well, she had the first part down, but she had a clear rhythm to her attacks. Masukagami could see through it now.

The first attack missed. The second, Masukagami blocked. Then came the third attack, and Masukagami made it miss once more. Her rhythm was off now. She swung again, wide, and Masukagami ducked below it, moving in close. Kaiha's next attack came, the sharp point of her blade aimed at Masukagami's neck. She twisted and blocked this one as well, the recoil caused by her mirror leaving Kaiha completely off balance.

Masukagami, from that position, had a big opening to finally exploit. First, her elbow was already in position to slam into Kaiha's solar plexus. So that's what she did. Kaiha doubled over, stumbling back. She lifted her two blades defensively, but Masukagami danced around her, placing her mirror against Kaiha's side, returning the favor and then some by gifting her with a massive wound.

Kaiha screamed in pain, blood gushing from her side. She swung frantically, and once more Masukagami had an easy opening. This time it was Kaiha's shoulder that she bled. Kaiha, to her credit, fought through the pain, attacking with her good arm, but Masukagami just dodged around it and ended up behind her opponent. With her next attack, Kaiha was left with two crippled arms and was thrown to the ground.

Masukagami had won. With her norito, Kaiha would be finished. She knelt down to find Kaiha's crest, but a mocking laugh distracted her.

"Can I come out now, Higa-sama? I've been _soooo_ bored! We still need her, right?" Masukagami was back on her feet in a flash, head snapping around to locate the source of the voice.

In the same window she and Kaiha had gone through was a new face. A petite blonde with long hair and a frilly, light yellow dress with an excessive amount of lace adorning it. Her hair was tied up in matching, lacy ribbons. Her eyes were a bright gold color that seemed to almost glow, even in broad daylight. She had a definite color scheme, Masukagami noted.

"Who-"

Suddenly, a large, metal sphere levitated its way out the window, and then the girl jumped on top of it, riding it down the the ground before hopping off and facing Masukagami.

"Shall we do the usual formality? Actually, this will only be my second time, so it's a little exciting for me!" she smiled warmly. "My name is Kyokkou! Number 98!" She gave a formal bow.

"M-Masukagami! Number 102!" Masukagami hastily replied, bewildered by the girl's sudden appearance.

"Nice to meet you! Sorry, but can you not terminate this onee-chan? Higa needs all the sekirei he can get right now!" Kyokkou said with her hands politely clasped together. "Instead, I'm afraid Higa-sama needs me to terminate you!" Suddenly Kyokkou's friendly demeanor vanished, and her expression became quite malicious. The metal sphere rocketed into Masukagami's gut and launched her back a good ten feet. The worst part was, as Masukagami pushed herself to a sitting position, a second sphere levitated down from the window.

She got to her feet in time for a sphere to be launched at her. This girl reminded her of Sukaime, or Oriha. She could handle this, she'd seen this kind of fighting before. She raised her mirror to block, but to her surprise, the sphere did not recoil away from her mirror, instead it resisted and stuck in place. Further shocking was when the sphere grew spikes. Each spike was at least five or six inches long and half as wide at the base.

The sphere spun, the spikes raking and battering her hand and knocking her mirror loose. The second sphere had a free shot at her then, and slammed into her stomach once again. She knew she had to be careful, she couldn't afford to be left reeling. She grit her teeth and pulled back, just in time, as the second sphere deployed its spikes, still managing to graze her stomach painfully.

She knew, suddenly, that she was in a bad place. She... honestly wasn't sure she could beat this girl. In fact, she was afraid she might lose, injured as she was already. She was breathing heavily, and her hands were beginning to shake, especially her mirror hand.

She quickly backed away, flicking her mirror back into her hand. Her eyes flitted from sphere, to sphere, to Kyokkou. Unlike Sukaime, this girl didn't seem to direct her attacks with her hands. Her body language gave away almost nothing as far as attacks were concerned.

She didn't have time to think about it. Suddenly, a door burst open. It was Avaron. She'd evidently run through the building, as she was panting and red in the face. She staggered to Masukagami's side, clutching Masukagami's sleeve to hold herself up.

"T-too... risky... remember... what I said!" Avaron gasped out.

"Right. I remember." Masukagami gently grabbed Masukagami to help her stand. "You need to get in better shape by the way."

"Uhuh..." Avaron seemed more concerned with breathing at the moment. Well, she'd need to take a quick break.

"Hurry! Stop them!" Higa shouted from his office above them. It was too late though, Masukagami pulled Avaron into a kiss.

"Running away already? We just got started!" Kyokkou actually sounded angry. Masukagami wondered what her real personality was, but she'd have to find out later. She could hear Kyokkou's spheres rushing through the air, but Masukagami was just a little bit faster. She picked a point in the distance, as far away as she could find and...

"My mirror reveals my pledge, reflect the dreams of my ashikabi!" In a flash they were gone.

**. . .**

Madoka let himself and Kaie into his house, and the second the door opened the smell of food wafted over to them. Having been left home, it seemed Oriha had decided to get busy cooking. That... wasn't going to make things easier for him, but he'd make it work.

"This way." Madoka waved for Kaie to follow, making sure she didn't try to worm her way out of what he had in store. He probably needn't have bothered; she was generally the best behaved of his sekirei. In his cozy kitchen/dining room he found his other three sekirei waiting.

"It just finished!" Oriha announced, the food already on the table.

"Yeah, good job. Uh, here's the thing... I need the room," Madoka told them.

"What?" Benitsubasa frowned. She was probably upset at the idea of her meal being interrupted.

"Oh boy. Something's up. OK, I'll be... elsewhere," Sukaime said with a sigh, going along with it. Oriha looked about to follow, but Madoka raised a hand to stop her.

"No, you stay." Madoka then turned to Benitsubasa and Sukaime. "You two can go. And, ugh, you can take your food if you want. Just... just don't make a mess." He didn't have much, but he _did_ have clean floors. Apparently that was all that he'd needed to say to convince Benitsubasa.

"Eh? Wait, really? We can eat in the living room, even?" Sukaime's eyes went wide. "Are you OK?" Before he could answer, Benitsubasa just grabbed two plates and herded her from the room.

"Don't question it and go!" Benitsubasa ordered and left the room, forcing a confused Sukaime to leave ahead of her.

"So, what do you need me for?" Oriha asked, head tilted. She then noticed that Kaie was also still in the room. "Madoka-sama?"

"Both of you. Sit." Madoka pointed at the table. "Now!" he urged firmly when they hesitated. The two scurried like startled mice to take seats at the table.

"M-Madoka-kun." Kaie sat, hands placed stiffly on her lap, squirming slightly. "I-I think I know what you're trying to do, and-"

"Maybe you do. So?" Madoka crossed his arms. "You two get along worse than Benitsubasa and Sukaime. That's... really bad."

"Well Kaie is a _liar_ so I don't know what you expect to accomplish." Oriha mirrored Madoka's stance, albeit from her seated position.

"Wh-" Madoka hadn't expected that. "No, I don't care what happened. I don't even want you to explain! You two are going to settle things."

"I don't know that that's possible. The way we feel..." Kaie wasn't offering much hope either. He understood her reservations. There was the jealousy between them all that he had to somehow break through. How, though?

"Do you like living this way? Living with three other people you can barely stand?"

"We have you. So what?" Maybe it was because he'd already had a talk with Kaie, but it was Oriha who was being the most difficult here.

"Do you think _I _like this!" Madoka snapped, making Oriha, and Kaie to a lesser extent, flinch. "I know I'm the reason you act like this! How happy do you think that makes me?"

"Not... at all..." Oriha mumbled guiltily. "B-but still, we can't help it, we-"

"Well too bad. You two are going to be working out your issues." He wasn't taking no for an answer.

"But-"

"Get up. Both of you. Come here." His command caused them to exchange worried glances, but they stood and approached him. He had no idea if this was going to work, and even if it did he'd be blatantly exploiting their emotions, but he was desperate. He had to believe that sometimes the end did justify the means. He just hoped he reached the end he sought.

He grabbed Oriha and without giving her any warning, kissed her. It wasn't a quick one either, he held it until he felt her begin to relax into it, getting over the initial surprise. That was his cue to cut it short though. When he pulled away he could see that Kaie was uncomfortable having witnessed it, and Oriha was a little embarrass for having had a witness. It was different from when he used their noritos.

Despite that, he didn't waste time. Kaie was next. She was even more tense than Oriha, but within seconds she too succumbed to it, leaning into him and trying to prolong it as much as she could. He did his best to not let the kiss last much longer than Oriha's. When he was done with her, he could see that both were dazed and confused. Good, he'd finish what he had to say while they were still vulnerable.

"I take it you both enjoyed that?" he asked, and they nodded slowly with little hesitation. "Well you'd better have good memories, because unless you do what I ask, it's not happening again any time soon." Their jaws dropped simultaneously. Both looked horrified by his words.

"Wh-wh-what?" Oriha whined. "Noooo! You can't do that! You barely kiss me anymore as it is! That's torture!"

"You make it sound like he used to." Kaie looked a little peeved. Oriha just looked... away. "And what if we can't just start getting along?"

"I'm not expecting a miracle, but I still expect you to try," Madoka told them.

"So we try, and then what? How long does this last?"

"Until you reach a conclusion that satisfies me one way or the other."

"Like... what?" Oriha asked nervously.

"Haven't decided yet." Madoka had to keep himself from grinning evilly. Fortunately he was in just bad enough of a mood to keep his face straight.

"That's not fair!" Oriha cried, stomping angrily.

"Who said I was playing fair? I just want results! Now get to it! You can talk while you eat!" Madoka ordered impatiently. He was so sick of the drama, he was glad he was finally at least trying _something._

"Where do we even start?" Oriha suddenly just looked tired and defeated.

"Well, it's a lot easier to get along with someone when you know them. So start there. Just talk about yourselves. Whatever you can think of." Madoka then grabbed a plate of food for himself. "Anyway, I'll be with the others, so have fun."

Madoka left them with one last look at their hesitant expressions. Neither were happy about this, that much was obvious. The outcome though, well, he wasn't going to get his hopes up. This was a long shot no matter how he looked at it.

* * *

><p><strong>This one was getting way too long. I know some people probably aren't as patient, or perhaps don't have as much time in their days as others might, so I found a spot where I could split the chapter in half to make it easier to digest. The other half will follow in a few days, maybe next weekend.<br>**

**And I almost forgot... AGAIN! The theme behind the chapter tittles is a reference to Left 4 Dead, specifically the character Francis who tends to say he hates things. ******There's even a series of YouTube parody videos dedicated to him hating things.** Benitsubasa is also an angry personality, so I figured it fit.**

**Til' next time!**


	37. I Hate Holdouts Still

**I Hate Holdouts Still**

Madoka joined Benitsubasa and Sukaime in the living room, and did his best to ignore their stares. It... wasn't easy. As he sat down in the middle of the couch, one girl on each side of him, he could feel the pressure of their gazes crushing him. He'd left a tense moment with Kaie and Oriha only to step into another one – except he wasn't nearly as in control this time.

"What. Is. Going. On?" Sukaime demanded, sounding desperate for answers.

"Team building exercises?" Madoka offered halfheartedly. Why had he sat _between_ them again?

"You kissed both of them!" Benitsubasa glowered. "We could _see_ the lights!" Kissing sekirei was not something that could be done stealthily, unfortunately.

"I was motivating them!" Madoka insisted, though he knew he was on thin ice. He didn't know why, but Benitsubasa's accusations made him feel guilty.

"Uhuh." Benitsubasa just crossed her arms and scowled at the TV, not that it was even on.

"Hm. Oriha gets a lot of motivation, I've noticed," Sukaime commented idly. Madoka was glad he hadn't begun eating, as he was pretty sure he'd have choked on his food thanks to her.

"Wh-what?" Madoka cringed. How much did she know?

"Well, we use her norito _a lot. _Plus the night that shall not be mentioned." Madoka instinctively leaned away from Benitsubasa, knowing that she must have been left bristling after that. When he actually looked at her though, she was just blushing and looking a little frustrated.

"She's right!" Benitsubasa suddenly snapped at him. She then let go of her plate with one hand and grabbed Madoka's cheek, dragging him into a sudden, and quite energetic, kiss. "Now it's fair!" Seeming satisfied, Benitsubasa got back to her food.

"Well, someone's getting bold these days." Sukaime chuckled perversely. That's what she said, but Madoka could see how red Benitsubasa's face was, even with the kiss over. "This house is getting a little steamy today."

"You want to make it even too?" Madoka asked her for the hell of it. Why not? He'd already kissed the other three. He wasn't going to stop her if she insisted at this point. Sukaime, however, _had_ started eating and did start to choke on her food. When she recovered from her fit of coughing and sputtering, she took a deep breath and gave him an anxious look.

"Err. I-I'll pass, thanks. Let's let Benitsubasa have her moment." She threw on a hasty smile and too decided to focus on her food. As strange as he found that response, considering what he'd come to expect from his sekirei, he didn't press the issue. He already felt weird kissing so many different girls in such a short period of time, even if one of them had been out of his control.

**. . .**

It was silent as Oriha sat with Kaie, or at least across from her in the same room at the same table. She really wanted to make Madoka happy, and that was why she chosen to sit there politely, if not happily. A good five minutes passed with nothing happening. Not a single word, cough, or cleared throat broke the silence.

Finally Oriha couldn't stand it any longer. Madoka wanted it, and she was getting restless just sitting there.

"I guess I'll start then," Oriha said abruptly, causing Kaie's head to tilt up instead of staring down at her untouched food. "We mentioned our tuners once, right?"

"Briefly, yes." Kaie shrugged.

"Remember back when we would play cards? The day I first asked you to teach me?" Oriha asked, earning a nod from Kaie. "That same day, while you and Madoka were working, I slipped out to visit mine." Oriha proceeded to tell Kaie about her tuner, focusing on what she could remember about when she was young. Her anecdotes ranged from how she started cooking, to how she came to call her tuner "mom."

That latter bit seemed to get Kaie's attention, though she didn't comment. In fact, Kaie didn't respond at all. Sometimes, when Oriha stopped to think, she'd catch Kaie looking away. Sometimes she caught her doing that even when she was talking. It was the next part that got her attention back in full.

"When I went back that day, she was really upset. Because of me. I remembered, toward the end of my time there, that she didn't seem to care for me. What I found out was that I had been sort of a fill in for her daughter, who she didn't see much anymore." Oriha took a deep breath. "But, when her daughter actually died... she just resented me for taking up all her time instead of letting her grieve."

"I... I see." Kaie was clearly deep in thought, though that soon passed and without prompting further commentary.

"In the end, we made up though, and... well... That's me, for the most part," Oriha said with a quick forced smile. Nothing. "Um, Kaie?" Kaie just shrugged and fidgeted with clear disinterest. "Come on! I told you all about me! You heard what Madoka-sama said! It's your turn now!"

"Why? We're sekirei, we don't have _stories_ about our past. We're born, with no _real_ parents to speak of as far as we know, and then we're tuned. This is the same for all of us. Until we meet our ashikabi, we have no identity – not one that matters anyway. We're lucky if that changes even then." Well, Kaie had certainly been convinced to speak. It didn't help the situation though. Oriha didn't get how Kaie could say all that after she'd _just_ heard a story about Oriha's past. Maybe Kaie hadn't been impressed.

"So what? You're not going to talk?" Oriha was getting angry. Kaie shook her head. "Well, then that's what I'll tell Madoka-sama! I did what he asked and you didn't! I can't do anything more if you won't even try! Guess who he's going to be happy with after this!"

"Hmph, fine then. Go do your best to make him happy. All you're really doing is exactly what you were before. You're taking advantage of this to try and get ahead and take him for yourself. Nothing's changed. Why _should _I try? What am I getting out of it? That's who you are! That's who we all are!"

"Of course I'm going to take advantage of it! If you're not going to try then you're no good for him anyway! At least I care about him enough to try! At least I _can_ make him happy! Ugh, I can't believe I told _you _all that stuff about me!" Oriha crossed her arms, an angry snarl adorning her face.

"That's just fine," Kaie said stiffly, leaning back into her chair tiredly. "I've been out of the running from the start. Benitsubasa's his first, Sukaime's his friend, and you... well he clearly likes _something_ about you." The bitterness in her voice was thick and impossible to miss. It made Oriha stop and think. Perhaps, at the very least, she shouldn't take Kaie's attitude so personally. In fact, she suddenly thought of something.

"You... you're really that upset about being the last one, aren't you?" Oriha guessed, a hint of sympathy in her voice. She'd been in that position once. She hadn't been Madoka's first, nor even his _other_ sekirei. She'd been a third wheel – an afterthought.

"Is it that obvious?" It was a rhetorical question that dripped with resentment. "For every memory he has of me, he'll have even more for the rest of you. I lose out more every day! He didn't even _want_ me!"

"You spend almost all day with him though! Hell, you've probably seen more of him then all of us put together by now!"

"I told you! It doesn't matter! There's nothing even remotely romantic about that..." Kaie sighed, seeming to have burned herself out as quickly as she'd flared up.

"So? You still get to see him. All day, almost every day. That's time, _every day_ that we don't even get to see him. Say whatever you want, I'm still jealous!" Seeing him, hearing his voice, touching him; those were all things Kaie could do that Oriha couldn't for those eight hours, give or take, on work days. It didn't matter how small those things may have been, it was still something.

Kaie actually smiled a little after Oriha said that. "I... guess you're right." Kaie suddenly blushed. "I mean, I do get to look at his butt when he stocks the lower shelves. That's nice." Oriha's jaw dropped and she stared at her incredulously. She'd never expected something so vulgar and absurd from Kaie. It was... laughable.

Oriha literally found herself laughing. It wasn't lough or uproarious, but she giggled uncontrollably. Soon Kaie joined her, if only for a second.

"See? We all have our... things." Oriha sighed. She realized she had one last story to tell. "You know, it's not like I was wanted either. I mean, knowing Madoka-sama, who's to say he wanted any of us? He hates the Sekirei Plan and MBI and he had to make you work just to feed us. Each one of us just made his life harder."

"I guess. But–"

"Madoka-sama saved me from Higa. I bumped into, literally, him on the street while I was running away. He was nice, he helped me up. We almost walked away from each other, but then Higa showed up. He could have just left and then Higa would have winged me, but instead he came back to make sure I was OK. That's when he found out I was a sekirei. He still could have left or given me to Higa, but he helped me run away instead. He was kind and brave. He was my hero. And... for a few moments anyway... I liked the way he looked at me. I was reacting to him on top of it all, so of course I wanted to be winged." Oriha felt herself flush happily at the fond memory.

"I wish that I could say something similar. I was hiding in a tree while you three almost died..." Kaie pouted in disappointment.

"Don't be silly. You were _his_ hero in the end. Isn't that good too?" Oriha wasn't sure why she was being so nice to Kaie, but she found it wasn't as distasteful as she'd have expected. She found it was actually refreshing to just relax and talk. "But like I said, I wasn't wanted. It's weird. I didn't have to ask him or make him wing me, he wanted to kiss me."

"I don't understand."

"He wanted to kiss me," Oriha repeated, "but he didn't want to wing me. He got upset right after he kissed me and realized what he'd done. He hadn't meant to make me his. He... knew that it bothered me and didn't blame me, but that's still my memory. I was happy, but it was cut short. It's not perfect. He's been really nice to me since then, and I'm happy most of the time, but nothing will ever make that _all_ better." It was the one thing between her and Madoka that could never really be fixed. Kaie might have had another way to look at things, but she didn't.

Oriha couldn't help but notice the sad, troubled look that grew on Kaie's face. She seemed to grow increasingly nervous. Kaie's hand slowly moved up, covering her mouth, but then startlingly quickly she pulled her hand away to grip the edge of the table.

"It's my fault he got kidnapped!" Kaie blurted out.

**. . .**

There, she'd said it. It only seemed right that she take her turn now. It wasn't truly that she blamed herself, and she knew Madoka didn't blame her either, but she felt it was a fact nonetheless. It time that she told her own story. She gave Oriha an abridged version of what had happened when Madoka was taken, starting with the clothes store and ending with her terminating Tankako.

"I... uhhh... well..." Oriha seemed to be at a loss for words suddenly. "So she did it to get back at you?"

"I don't know if that's the best way to say it," Kaie responded, her voice lifeless. She'd let herself go numb as the story went on so that she could get through it without breaking down. "It wasn't really revenge. She just wanted to feel better than me for once. It was jealousy."

"Well you won! So that's good, right?" Oriha threw on a smile. "You protected Madoka-sama!" Kaie gripped her knees, not answering Oriha. Oriha's reaction didn't quite go along with how Kaie felt about it. There was more yet to be said. There was one part to the story that even Madoka didn't know, that Kaie had kept to herself. "Um, that's a good thing." Oriha spoke up again, sounding confused. "Kaie?"

"We weren't just two sekirei sharing a tuner." Kaie's hands tightened, her nails digging into her thighs, her work dress offering no meaningful protection against the sharp pain that inflicted. "When our tuner needed time to work alone, he'd give us things to keep us busy. Books, manga, television; anything that would keep us quiet. When you grow up like that, as a sekirei, there are... concepts that you don't really learn. One day we stumbled across the word 'sisters.' It seemed like a good thing. We thought that we must be sisters. We were girls who were growing up in the same place, so it only made sense..."

"Oh." Oriha's eyes went wide and she went rigid in her chair. Neither looked at each other.

"But I was always better than her, it seemed. She didn't like that and in time it all fell apart. But that was a long process. For years we lived under that illusion, and I was happy. I don't know if we were like real sisters. I still don't really know what real sisters would be like, but-" She shut her eyes and a tear broke free. "But I loved her anyway."

"Sorry." Oriha leaned forward onto the table. "I guess we both knew what it was like to have family, in a way. Except... you..." Oriha didn't finish her sentence, but that didn't matter. Kaie knew what she meant to say. Kaie hadn't had a happy ending.

"I was so cruel at the very end. So... selfish... and weak..."

"The end? What do you mean? You were saving Madoka-sama! How were you selfish?"

"I held her in my arms, because I wanted one last memory... before I... but then I hesitated. I stopped. I had her exactly where I wanted her, defeated, and I thought I was ready, but my hand just stopped. The words wouldn't come to me. She had all the time she needed to terminate me instead. I lost that fight at the very last moment, but for some reason I'm still here and she's not." Kaie had run that moment through her mind over and over again. Holding Tankako for her own, selfish desires and so that she'd be able to easily terminate her after she'd had her moment. Reaching for Tankako's crest, making her motives clear... Then, a moment of silence before Tankako reached for Kaie's crest, upon realizing what Kaie intended.

Then, Kaie had finished her norito first, despite having given up her advantage. She'd run through it over and over, and still her conclusion was the same.

"Tankako... she... let me win," Kaie said haltingly, her composure dissolving with each word. "I don't know why, but... that's the only answer I can come up with."

"Do you think it's because she might have still-"

"Cared? That was my first thought." Kaie gave a slight nod. "I... It's possible. I almost wish that wasn't the case. Because if that's true, then what I had to do... to my little sister..." Mid-sentence she broke down, hiccuping as she tried to repress the memory of that moment. "What she let me do... forced me... to do..."

"I don't know if this will help," Oriha spoke softly. "But... maybe she finally got what she wanted in a way. She found a moment where she could be stronger than you. I know it has to be sad, but it's not bad that she cared right? She must have found those feelings for you at the end, and that let her be brave enough to sacrifice herself."

"And... in that moment... she was finally better than me." Kaie was stunned by the realization. What had happened was no less painful, but that was an explanation she could accept. She was happy with that thought, but for now that happiness was still buried by sorrow. "Thank you."

"So... I guess we did it."

"Huh?" Kaie looked at Oriha. Did what?

**. . .**

"We talked. Both of us," Oriha explained. She was a little surprised herself. She hadn't expected it to end well. Once they'd started though, it had become surprisingly easy. She didn't fully understand it, for it made no sense in one respect. Weren't they still rivals?

"I... I suppose we did." Kaie nodded.

"So what are we going to do now?" Oriha asked, and Kaie shrugged, giving no answer. "Maybe... we really can get along. I mean, it gets lonely sometimes, doesn't it? We can't always have Madoka-sama. Not even you."

"That's true..." Kaie still seemed hesitant.

"And I miss having family." Oriha's sudden declaration made Kaie's jaw drop.

"Wh-what are you-"

"I-I'm just saying, we're both sekirei, and you're right, we don't know who our parents are, or if we even ever had any, so who's to say how we're related or not. I'm not saying I could replace your sister, and that's not what I want anyway." Oriha leaned across the table and held her hand out. "But... hating each other is no fun. At the very least, let's stop that, OK?" Oriha smiled, and she didn't have to force it this time.

"I... I..." Kaie stared at Oriha's hand with something resembling fear. But, slowly, and albeit unsteadily, she raised her hand and began to reach for Oriha's. Before their hands could meet, Oriha suddenly pulled her hand away and smirked mischievously. "Wh-what?" Kaie looked hurt that Oriha had pulled back.

"Just... promise you'll find something besides cards to do together, OK?" Oriha knew that had been mean, but Kaie _had_ kind of deserved it. She could call it even now.

Kaie finally smiled back. "Of course." This time Oriha did let Kaie take her hand. Oriha giggled and squeezed Kaie's hand.

"See? We're less lonely already!"

"Yeah. You're right."

**. . .**

Benitsubasa leaned against Madoka, her food long gone, as they watched television. Madoka had insisted they keep the volume low that night, which actually made sitting with him feel cozier. The TV distracted her less from reality, she supposed.

It also meant that she immediately noticed when Oriha and Kaie walked into the room, carrying their own food that they apparently hadn't eaten yet, and sat at the base of the couch side-by-side.

"Uhhh, girls?" Madoka spoke questioningly, looking down at the back of their heads. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, sorry. We're done!" Oriha turned her head momentarily to look at Madoka as she answered.

"Um. And? That was... fast." Rather than answer him though, Benitsubasa watched the two exchange glances. With their heads turned sideways, Benitsubasa could observe a few "secret" messages exchanged by the two. Oriha mouthed something, and Kaie winked back. Oriha then leaned against Kaie's shoulder, much like how Benitsubasa had been leaning against Madoka.

The only sound in the room for the longest time was the sound of the television, and no one was paying attention to it.

"Well. That... answers that." Madoka slowly leaned back into his seat, looking befuddled.

"Oh crap!" Sukaime started, leaning across Madoka's lap to look at Benitsubasa. "They're beating us now!"

"Huh?" Benitsubasa just stared at her, waiting for her to explain whatever ridiculous idea she had this time.

"They're getting along better than us again! Quick, we need to cuddle!"

"Sukaime... please..." Madoka grumbled, looking annoyed at the invasion of his personal space.

"I really don't care." Benitsubasa, her interest in Sukaime's foolishness satisfied and gone, looked away and went back to leaning against Madoka and enjoying her night. Until Sukaime forced the matter.

"Move over, Madoka!" Sukaime crawled over him, wedging herself between him and Benitsubasa, going so far as to push Madoka aside some to help her fit.

"H-hey!" Benitsubasa complained as Madoka was moved away from her and Sukaime put her arms around her neck.

"See! Now we're winning again!" Sukaime stuck her tongue out at Oriha and Kaie.

"Someone feels threatened," Oriha commented idly.

"Yes. How unseemly," Kaie concurred.

"Dammit! You're making us lose!" Sukaime scolded Benitsubasa, shaking her. Benitsubasa just frowned, feeling helpless as her comfortable night turned to chaos. "You need to try harder!"Finally Benitsubasa sighed loudly, turned so her face was almost touching Sukaime and then grabbed her chin. She looked deep into Sukaime's eyes, shocking her into silence and eventually earning a nervous gulp.

"Hush," Benitsubasa ordered.

"Y-yes, ma'am."

**. . .**

"Am I doing this right?" Avaron asked, stricken with worry.

"I... I think so. I've never done this before either," Masukagami replied, just as nervous.

"Does it hurt?"

"Only a little. Keep going."

"There! All done." Avaron leaned back, sitting on her knees. She'd been bandaging Masukagami as best she could, but she'd never dealt with such large wounds. She'd never even seen Masukagami hurt before. That said, Avaron wasn't exactly squeamish around blood, so that helped.

"Good job! Thank you, Avaron-sama!" Masukagami flung herself at her ashikabi, arms going around Avaron's neck and knocking her over.

"H-hey! You're going to hurt yourself! A-and you're not wearing a top!" Avaron complained, scolding the other girl. Masukagami was at least wearing a bra, but that didn't make it that much less awkward.

"Both of those things are OK!" Masukagami exclaimed happily, nuzzling Avaron's neck, "I love you, Avaron-sama. Even if I was naked, I wouldn't be embarrassed!"

"Yes, but what about me?" Avaron asked with a giggle. Such a declaration from her sekirei wasn't really surprising to her.

"I'd be fine if you were naked! A-and if it was at the same time..." Masukagami's expression became... distracted.

"I mean maybe... oh, never mind." Avaron shook her head and smirked. "Silly girl." She ran a hand through Masukagami's light-blue hair. "But I do love you too." She knew she didn't say it enough, so she couldn't afford to not say it back, lest she forget due to Masukagami's antics, which didn't show any sign of ending any time soon.

Masukagami beamed in response, and without warning laid a kiss on Avaron's lips. It was a strong kiss, but Masukagami soon pulled away. Masukagami was a good girl. She didn't try to force her affection on Avaron, despite her obviously overwhelming feelings.

"Sorry, I'll let you up n-" As Masukagami began to rise, Avaron threw her arms around the sekirei's neck and pulled her back into a much deeper kiss. This time when they parted Masukagami looked dreamy and far away.

"I think... that my dear little Masukagami, who takes such good care of me, deserves some affection tonight," Avaron spoke in a markedly seductive manner, even going so far as to bat her eyelashes. She thought back to how Masukagami, without hesitation, threw herself between Avaron and Kaiha. It wasn't just that one moment, though. Masukagami was always brave, always caring, always _there_. This more recent example just so happened to give Avaron an excuse to "express" her love. Physically.

Masukagami's eyes went wide and when she tried to speak she only managed to produce excited squeaking noises. It seemed that Avaron had been able to quash Masukagami's inhibitions quite thoroughly, at least as far as kissing went, because she soon found her lips under a passionate assault. This wasn't the cute, quick kiss like Masukagami had occasionally stolen. This was bodies intertwined and lips locked together as hearts raced.

The issue of gender was far from Avaron's mind now. She loved Masukagami and cared little about what she herself currently felt. What she did care about was what she could tell Masukagami felt; that _did_ excite her. The little sounds that escaped her, the flushing of her cheeks, and the way she desperately chased Avaron's lips any time she dare move away too much.

It was fun to see her react, to _feel _her react. She loved Masukagami, and knowledge of her happiness, her pleasure, was all Avaron needed to enjoy this moment. In fact, she wanted to explore that avenue a little more.

Avaron released herself from Masukagami's lips. Masukagami immediately grabbed Avaron's face and pulled her back. Avaron's eyes narrowed in annoyance. It seemed her sekirei needed to learn obedience. She bit Masukagami's lower lip, earning a startled squeal from the girl. This time when she pulled away, she wasn't stopped and was able to place a finger to Masukagami's mouth, keeping her silent.

"Just relax, my precious girl." She watched as Masukagami's eyes became pinpoints, her entire body practically trembling with anticipation. Avaron wrapped her arms around Masukagami and turned, flipping her sekirei over and taking her place on top.

Avaron reared back a little, looking down at Masukagami's figure. It was a lovely sight, but it didn't excite her as much as it simply made her curious. What if...? Avaron traced a finger from the base of Masukagami's neck down over her chest. Masukagami jumped under her touch, whimpering slightly as she restrained herself and let Avaron have her way.

Truly wonderful; Avaron grinned. She lowered herself, pulling back so she she could brush her lips against Masukagami's collar bone. Masukagami gasped, her arms suddenly going around Avaron's head, holding her close. This simply earned the sekirei another scolding nip, and her grip loosened. Freed, Avaron proceeded to draw her lips down to Masukagami's chest, feeling the geography of Masukagami's body change and become much... softer.

Avaron let her tongue slip out and trace a little circle. She placed her hands on Masukagami's shoulders and did her best to hold the other girl down as she squirmed beneath her. She found herself taking a sort of twisted pleasure in teasing and tormenting Masukagami this way. The control she felt was intoxicating, and combined with the total lack of guilt because, in this case, Masukagami was enjoying herself. She could get used to this.

"Now... what else can I do to you?" Avaron mused aloud, looking down at Masukagami hungrily. She wanted to find every little spot that would make Masukagami writhe beneath her. She wanted to see her twisted up and breathless. She moved back up, kissing her quickly, but then pulling away just as quick. She saw Masukagami begin to chase her, but stop. Good, she was learning. The conflicted, desirous look in her eyes was delicious.

"Having fun?" Avaron whispered directly into Masukagami's ear, getting a shaky nod in response. "Good," she breathed out heavily, making Masukagami shiver. She then licked the outer edge of Masukagami's ear.

"Avaron-sama, Avaron-sama!" Masukagami cried out between gasping breaths.

"Yeeesss?" Avaron looked into her eyes, licking her own lips.

"I-I feel like I'm losing my mind... I... I want..."

"Take it then. Whatever you want, just try and take it from me!" Avaron challenged her. "See how far you get." She had a feeling if Masukagami _really _wanted something, nothing Avaron could down would stop her, but she was curious.

She watched Masukagami clamp her eyes shut before suddenly her hands shot out and... gripped Avaron's rear tightly. Her eyes went wide, and when Masukagami nervously cracked an eye open Avaron just shook her head.

"How naught-" But it seemed Masukagami wasn't done. At first she thought Masukagami was just _really_ getting a good _feel_ of her lower assets, but then she realized she was actually grabbing fistfuls of her dress. She then proceeded to pull it up. Avaron sighed, but pushed herself up, letting Masukagami pull the garment all the way off. "Well, now things aren't quite fair!"

Masukagami looked anxious, but Avaron quickly showed what she meant when she grabbed the waist of Masukagami's baggy pants. Soon she was dragging them off, revealing Masukagami's plump but firm thighs. On a whim, she planted a kiss on Masukagami's inner thigh, earning a sharp inhaled breath from the sekirei. So that was another good spot.

Moments later, they were in identical states of undress, clad only in undergarments, though one was significantly redder in the face. Avaron plopped herself down, pressing her body against Masukagami's warmth and using her chest as a pillow. The closeness of the skin-to-skin contact was something that even _she_ found pleasurable. She tilted her head up at Masukagami and smiled, though it was a wicked smile as much as it was a loving one.

"I could do this _all_ night," Avaron announced.

"Wh-what?" Masukagami looked a little worried, but a quick kiss took care of that. That night, sleep was the least of their concerns.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, I figured it was about time I let someone have some serious, uninterrupted and uninhibited fun. I tried to keep it more of an emotional scene, but without being <em>too<em> boringly clean. As for how far they go after I cut things off? Well, short of sex... let your imaginations wander. Heheh. Perverts...**

**Til' next time.**


	38. I Hate

**I Hate...**

To Madoka's surprise, it seemed he'd actually managed to make Oriha and Kaie work through their issues. As pleased as he was, he was having trouble believing it. It felt too easy. He had to question if it was genuine, or if they were just playing him. Well, he supposed sometimes it was best not to question things. If something went wrong, he'd worry about it then.

His current concern was the phone call he'd received during work. The cellular device had, quite loudly, gone off in the middle of stocking shelves – he was still getting used to owning one. The call had been from Minato, inviting him over for dinner as a thank you for finding Yukari. Minato had also suggested that Madoka bring Avaron, since she'd helped out a lot in the past as well. He was happy to accept; much happier than his boss had been when he saw Madoka on the phone...

Once he was on his lunch break, he headed out into the nearby alley and pulled out his phone once more, now no longer at risk of being fired. He scrolled through his contact list, or would have had Avaron not been at the top of the alphabetically ordered list, and soon had the girl in a call.

"_Ah, Madoka-kun. I was just thinking about calling you,"_ Avaron answered cheerfully – very cheerfully, he noted.

"Oh yeah? Well why don't you go first then," Madoka suggested. He was much more comfortable talking to Avaron now that, as far as he knew, he no longer had to worry about her attacking him. He'd probably peg her as his best, non-sekirei, friend at this point. The extent of the things she'd done for him, without being asked, were unbelievable quite frankly. He sincerely hoped that friendship would last beyond the Sekirei Plan.

"_Well, I'm afraid it's nothing too exciting. More of a... warning, really."_ That... was concerning. _"Masukagami and I got into a little trouble yesterday."_

"Wh-"

"_Shh! It's nothing for you to worry about. We're both fine."_

"_Is that Madoka-san? Hi, Madoka-san!" _Madoka heard Masukagami's voice as she shouted into the phone from her end.

"Hi?" Madoka realized she probably wouldn't hear him though.

"_He says hi, now let me speak please, love,"_Avaron shushed her sekirei. _"We... Well, I, decided to attempt a retrieval of Kouji's jinki."_

"You what?" Madoka could understand how she'd have gotten into trouble now. Higa wasn't someone to take lightly. They'd bested him so far, but the extents the man was willing to go to were a little disturbing.

"_Yes, and unfortunately we had to leave empty handed. From what I saw he still has at least two sekirei left. Masukagami almost took care of one, but then his second arrived... What was the name again, love? Oh, right, Kyoukko. Number 98. Masukagami was already tired, but still; that one is dangerous. She forced us to run."_

"Number 98..." Only one number away from Sukaime. Could it mean something? It was impossible to say. Sukaime was supposed to be the first experimental, would she have any relation to lower numbers at all? Or did her status leave her separate to all but the experimental sekirei who followed? "Alright, I'll keep that in mind. Thanks, but try not to do that again without saying something. I'm glad you're OK, but that was... risky." Stupid was what he wanted to say, but he'd hold his tongue.

"_I understand. I apologize for worrying you. Now, you called me first. I'm sure you had something you wanted to say."_

"Right. Minato invited both of us over for a sort of thank you dinner. Long story short, his sister is an ashikabi as well and I, err, located her for him." Located, fought, same difference.

"_Well, that's good. I don't see what is has to do with me though, not that I'm saying no."_

"Well you helped earlier with Uzume, so he owes you as well," Madoka reminded her.

"_Oh, but of course. Well it's been too long since I've seen all of you. And I'm sure Masukagami misses Oriha- Love, please, I know you're excited but I-... Masukagami, please..."_

"You got things under control?" Madoka smirked in amusement, faintly able to hear Masukagami bubbling over with joy in the background. In hindsight, he had noticed that Oriha had suddenly taken a liking to Masukagami. It had been subtle, so he hadn't thought to question it at the time. That and the Masayuki situation had been... distracting. Now that Avaron said it out loud, he made a mental note to inquire about it when he had a chance.

"_Yes. And tell Minato that we'll happily attend."_

"Good. And, quick warning, his sister is the ashikabi that nearly terminated Benitsubasa that time you two saved us, just so you're not too shocked when you arrive."

"_I see. Well, I suppose neither you, Kouji, or I had particularly friendly first encounters, so I won't hold it against her."_

"Thanks-"

"_Too much."_

"Well, If you want to make her sweat a little, I won't stop you. Just keep in mind that Benitsubasa already had her chance to pummel her sekirei, so we're already even. Oh, and Minato kinda has no idea about that first fight we had."

"_Very well, but her sekirei hurt Masukagami's hand when we saved you. Unforgivable."_ He could hear in Avaron's voice that she was only joking, though he wouldn't be surprised to find that there was a grain of truth yet buried in her words. She was very protective of Masukagami after all.

"Anyway, you remember where Izumo is? We'll see you there tonight?" He just hoped Miya wouldn't have a fit with so many people in one place.

**. . .**

It was only a few hours later that Madoka had assembled his four sekirei outside the entrance of Izumo. They were first alerted to the fact that Avaron had also arrived by Masukagami's, as usual, excited voice.

"Oriha-chan!" Before the girl in question knew what was happening, Masukagami's baggy sleeves were draped around the doll-like girl's neck.

"Wh-what?" Oriha went stiff, clearly thrown off by the gregarious girl's greeting.

"What's wrong? We're friends!" Masukagami just hugged Oriha even more tightly.

"Yeah... right..." Oriha glanced nervously at Kaie.

"What? Are you afraid I'll be jealous that you have other friends?" Kaie just seemed to find it funny.

"Of course she won't be jealous! Kaie's too cool for that. Benitsubasa however is a super jealous person! You'd better hug her before she gets upset!" Sukaime, right on schedule, chimed in to sow more mischief.

"Huh?" Benitsubasa had not been paying attention, but soon found herself similarly enveloped in an embrace from Masukagami.

"I could never forget Benitsubasa!" Masukagami exclaimed.

"Please stop..." Benitsubasa simply grumbled her complaint and sighed impatiently. However, rather than Masukagami letting go, Sukaime joined in instead.

"It's OK. She secretly loves hugs," Sukaime announced, also putting her arms around Benitsubasa.

"Really?" Masukagami grinned.

"No," Benitsubasa immediately denied that claim.

"Love, I'm sure you know better than that by now?" Avaron lightly scolded her sekirei, arms crossed, but lips pulled into an amused smile. This finally got her overly affectionate sekirei to back off, letting go of Benitsubasa.

"Sorry." Masukagami giggled nervously. "It's just been so long!"

"Well, I guess it has been nearly two weeks since we last saw you two. Damn." Doing the math, Madoka realized that Masukagami wasn't exactly wrong. "Since we last talked, I got kidnapped and everything!"

"What?" Avaron's and Masukagami's jaws dropped in unison.

"I... didn't mention that before... oops." Madoka smiled nervously. "I'll explain while we eat?" Well, this was awkward.

**. . .**

"My my, so many last minute guests. I can always count on Minato for that it seems!" That was Miya's greeting upon seeing them all. She spoke with a pleasant smile, as she usually did, but Madoka could see Minato sweating bullets off to the side. "Well, the food is not quite done yet, but you can all have a seat and I'll have it done shortly."

"Well, in that case, why don't you have Oriha help you again?" Madoka gave Oriha a gentle push toward Miya. It wasn't like he was hoping she'd get even better at cooking if she helped...

"Well, normally I'd abhor having a guest work, but she is quite the good little chef, so I'll accept. Come along, dear." Miya spun around and headed off, Oriha trotting along behind her.

"Well, it seems you're both forgetful at times, hm?" Avaron spoke up, causing both Minato and Madoka to clear their throats and glance about nervously.

"W-well the idea just came to me this morning... and... yeah..." Minato mumbled, scratching the back of his neck.

"You're lucky Oriha can lighten the workload, or Miya might have thrown you in the pot along with the food," Madoka teased, trying to get the spotlight fully on Minato. He was a terrible person... and it didn't even work.

"You're in hot water, too! Since we have to wait, you can explain _now!_" Avaron grabbed his arm and dragged Madoka to where they'd be sitting to eat. While their sekirei all socialized, some more than others of course, Madoka was forced to explain to Avaron and Masukagami how he'd been kidnapped. He did his best to make it fast, since he knew Kaie wouldn't want the subject to be brought up for long, and he managed to avoid mentioning Tankako.

"So _he_ knew, but you didn't tell me?" Avaron looked quite miffed that Minato had been made privy to the events before she had.

"I-I didn't... I mean, I-... it wasn't on purpose! After it was over it was over!" Madoka protested.

"And yet you were upset that I didn't say anything about going after the jinki. Hypocrite!" Avaron snapped, glaring at him.

"Hey! That's different and you know it! It's not like you could have done anything!" Madoka was getting a little annoyed now.

"Yes, but you're much more important than me!" Avaron countered. This time Madoka didn't have a rebuttal.

"I... what?"

"It's... never mind! You're right, I'm sorry. Just try and keep me in the loop in the future. I'll do better as well." Avaron quickly withdrew from the argument. "This isn't a time or place to be fighting anyway."

"Right..." Madoka could see Minato averting his eyes awkwardly as it was. "Hey, where's your sister? She's the whole reason we're here after all."

"Oh, she's probably just-"

"Making out with her sekirei?" Sukaime suggested loudly, interrupting Minato's answer.

"Umm, p-probably not?" Minato laughed nervously. "Err, oh there she is!"

"Sorry, sorry. I was fixing my hair!" Yukari hurried into the room.

"Uhuh, sure you were, toots." Sukaime just winked.

"I-... I'm sorry, who...?" Yukari glanced at the various people in the room in confusion.

"Sorry about her, that's Sukaime, one of my other sekirei. And that's Kaie, the same," Madoka introduced the two sekirei in the room of his that Yukari wouldn't recognize. That was about the same moment that Yukari saw Avaron. Her eyes went wide and she blanched as Avaron just smiled, a little wickedly, back at her. "And this is my friend Avaron and her sekirei Masukagami."

"Nice to meet you, Yukari-san. I was surprised to hear that Minato has a sister who is also an ashikabi," Avaron greeted, feigning never having seen Yukari before. "And that must be your sekirei behind you?"

"N-nice to meet you." Yukari was having trouble regaining her composure it seemed. "And yes! This is Shiina!" Shiina bowed in greeting, stepping forward to stand next to his ashikabi.

"Must have been 'helping' her with her hair." Sukaime winked.

"Seriously?" Madoka scowled incredulously at Sukaime.

"Oh please! After what she-" Madoka guessed that Sukaime was probably about to rant about Benitsubasa nearly being terminated. He knew she had some strange affection for her fellow sekirei, but this was hardly the time. He shot a pleading glance at Benitsubasa, who quickly understood what needed to be done.

Benitsubasa shot a glare at Sukaime and swatted the back of her head. "Stop causing trouble!" she scolded.

"Sorry..." Sukaime placed her hands on her knees and bowed her head in apology. With Sukaime's mischief abated, they were all able to relax a bit.

"Hm, by the way, Minato-san," Avaron spoke up. "How is Chiho-chan doing? Are you able to keep track of things?" Well, that was why Avaron was there after all.

"Oh, a little. Uzume still comes over fairly often and lets us know. I guess she's improving pretty quickly thanks to MBI's medicine. Uzume says she gets tired, but she can walk around on her own now. I guess she was too weak to before."

"That's wonderful to hear! We have to get together again when she's all better!" Masukagami smiled happily.

"Yes, but perhaps give Miya-san more of a warning when you do," Avaron said, making Minato flinch, but nod.

"Yeah, definitely. Thanks again, by the way. You really did save them." Unfortunately, the moment was destined to be cut short.

"Hey, Miya! I heard you're making a bunch of food!" a loud, male voice called out. At this, Madoka raised an eyebrow and looked at Minato.

"Oh, right. A friend heard about dinner tonight and sort of invited himself. He knew Miya before I started living here, so he tends to show up once in a while," Minato explained.

"You mean Seo, of course," Minato's sekirei, Matsu spoke up, shooting a warning look at Madoka out of the corner of her eye. It took Madoka a second, but the pieces clicked into place. Seo, the former ashikabi of the lightning twins. It took every ounce of willpower in him to not show that on the inside he was panicking. "Oh, would you excuse me for a moment." Matsu suddenly hurried out of the room. Madoka supposed he shouldn't have been surprised when his phone began ringing.

" Sorry... Hello?" Madoka had a feeling it was important he answer. He quickly stood and moved off to the side of the room.

"_It's Matsu. Pretend it's your other friend... Kouji, right? You have to come up with _any _excuse to leave. Say it's an emergency, I don't care! I don't think I need to tell you this is really bad!"_

"Yeah, I know." Madoka pursed his lips, making sure his face was turned away from the rest of the room's occupants so no one would see him freaking out.

"_All your sekirei were in that room with you, right? If you time it properly, you should be able to slip out without being seen!"_

"Yeah, OK. I-" Madoka's eyes went wide. Oriha was with Miya. "Actually... I think you'd better brace yourself." He swallowed heavily. "I know I am." He hung up, turning back to return to the table. He had a feeling that he only had to wait. There was nothing he could do. He faintly heard Miya and Seo speaking in the distance... and then...

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?" He heard Seo's voice boom from the kitchen. Everyone's head shot up, simultaneously turning in the direction of the yelling. Madoka just shut his eyes tightly and took a deep breath, walking around everyone to head to the source. He was vaguely aware that Minato was following him.

His sense of dread vanished when he entered the room, for it was overpowered by something else: anger. He saw Oriha, with Seo tightly grabbing her arm, his face red and eyes bloodshot. For a moment he did nothing, confused despite his anger. As much as he wanted to put Seo's head through the nearest wall, he didn't see the need to do anything. Shouldn't Oriha be able to easily free herself? However, her struggles were weak, her feeble tugging failing to get herself free of Seo's grasp.

When Madoka realized that, for whatever reason, Oriha couldn't free herself, he stormed forward, but Miya suddenly got in his way, motioning for him to stay back.

"Let her go, Seo!" Miya ordered, her voice more serious than he'd ever heard before. "There will be no violence within these walls!"

"You don't understand, Miya! This bitch-" Seo turned his head and saw Madoka. "YOU!" He shoved Oriha aside. This time Minato intervened, attempting to grab Seo and stop him, but Seo was on the warpath. Minato was pretty much thrown across the room for his efforts. Madoka thought he was about to take one to the face, but this time Miya _forced_ Seo to listen.

Miya grabbed Seo's arm tightly, much the same way Seo had grabbed Oriha. Madoka was worried he'd hurt Miya next, but Seo froze. Miya's eyes were filled with fury.

"You will stop. _Now_," Miya commanded. It was clear she didn't intend to let him argue. Strangely, he _did_ stop. Madoka assumed he just wouldn't want to hurt Miya, since he apparently knew her quite well.

"Dammit, Miya!" Seo pulled away, but his shoulders slumped. "It's his fault!" With his rampage halted, Oriha ducked past him and Miya to cling to Madoka. He could feel her shaking and he put a comforting arm around her, gritting his teeth. He didn't know what to do. He was livid. He'd touched Oriha and left her trembling, but he felt he should speak right now.

"Wh-what are you talking about, Seo?" Minato asked as he picked himself up.

"Hikari and Hibiki! It was him, Minato!" At Seo's accusation, both Miya and Minato looked at Madoka with surprise.

"Madoka?" Minato questioned, eyes filled with disbelief. Or was it denial? Madoka couldn't come up with words to say. He felt like a criminal, suddenly. When the silence grew too long, that denial faded. "No way... I..."

"There! He's not even denying it! Now get him out of my sight before I kill him!" Seo shouted. It was obvious that he was barely holding back as it was. If not for Miya, Seo probably would have been doing rather than threatening. With his other three sekirei in the next room, Madoka was hardly afraid, but that didn't make the situation any more pleasant.

"Yeah..." Madoka muttered finally. "Probably for the best. Sorry for the trouble, Miya-san."

"No. I understand." Miya shook her head, but didn't try to stop him. It wasn't like they'd be able to enjoy dinner at this point anyway. And for all he knew, she was also upset because of the fact that she knew Seo, and Madoka had terminated his sekirei. Seeing a friend that upset couldn't have made her happy.

Madoka turned to face the door back to the dining room only to see that just about everyone else was crowded around the other side of the door.

"Come on then, we're leaving," Madoka said. No one argued, he was sure they'd overheard enough to understand why. As he led his sekirei, as well as Avaron and Masukagami out, he could feel Seo's hate filled glare burning a hole through his back.

"Wait!" Minato halted them as they stepped out the front door. "L-look... I can't blame you for what happened. I mean, it's not like you two knew who each other were when you fought Seo's sekirei..."

"Well... thanks, I guess." Madoka shrugged. At this point, he really just wanted to get home and forget this night had happened.

"Yeah, great." He heard Benitsubasa mutter grumpily under her breath.

"Look, I know tonight's pretty much ruined, but, uh..." Minato rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Maybe some other time you could... err... apologize to Seo and help smooth things over."

"Um..." Madoka wasn't sure how to respond to that. It turned out that he didn't have to, not right away at least.

"Excuse me?" Benitsubasa cocked a disbelieving eyebrow in Minato's direction. "You wanna try that one again?"

"I-I-" Minato stuttered, but Benitsubasa didn't plan to actually let him speak.

"You even think of saying that again and I'll make you eat your damn teeth!" Benitsubasa growled. "Did you _forget_ what we've done for you? The shit we've gone through because of you? I nearly died! At least _twice!_ And I'm glad to hear Chiho's feeling better, because you're _fucking welcome for that_!"

"Benitsubasa-" Madoka tried to stop her tirade, but she rounded on him before he could finish speaking.

"No! I'm not letting him get away with this! This is bullshit!" Benitsubasa was then immediately glaring at Minato once more. "That other bastard is the one who should be walking out right now! How the hell can you take his side over ours?"

"I-it's not about taking sides, I-I'm just trying to calm things down! Madoka, y-you understand, right?" Minato looked at his wit's end. Standing there, having heard Benitsubasa explode, Madoka realized he couldn't help Minato right now.

"Sorry, but she's right. At the very least, I'm not apologizing," Madoka told Minato, leaving the other ashikabi looking dumbfounded.

"I don't understand... I just..."

"I get what you're trying to do, Minato. I'm not upset with you for suggesting it, it's just that I can't. I am _not_ sorry for what I did, and I can't pretend like I am. I'm not disrespecting my sekirei like that. You know why that battle happened? His sekirei were after Kaie. I'm not going to apologize for protecting her, not when she's right here. Not even if she _wasn't_ standing behind me right now. It's not worth it." That was it. Madoka had made up his mind. If this ruined things with Minato, well, he'd just have to deal with it.

"OK..." Minato let out a defeated sigh. "Uh... goodnight then..."

"Yeah." Madoka shoved his hands in his pockets. "See you around." As resolved as he was to take this course, he wasn't happy about it. He wished he hadn't had to say those things.

"By the way, Minato-san? Thank you for the invitation, but you can consider things even now. No need to worry about it in the future," Avaron said. She was smiling, but Madoka knew that she was effectively telling Minato to politely go to hell.

**. . .**

As they were walking home, after calming down, he'd found a chance to ask why Masukagami was suddenly so affectionate with Oriha, which prompted a quick story about how they'd shared a batch. It reminded him about how Benitsubasa had known the other sekirei known as Shijime. Apparently he was the only one at that point who'd been in the dark about that. That knowledge had certainly helped improve his mood, though.

It perhaps helped explain why Oriha had been able to patch things up with Kaie so quickly. It seemed Oriha had a history of coexisting with other sekirei. He'd just had to give her a little push to make her start again.

About halfway, they bid farewell to Avaron and Masukagami. At this point, he was almost more upset by the fact that he had to say goodnight to her early. He'd just that day been thinking about how he valued her friendship.

Once home and inside, Madoka just trudged over to his couch and flopped into it, head lolling back, letting out a long, tired groan.

"So. That didn't go as planned, did it?" Madoka tilted his head to the side to see Kaie sitting down next to him.

"Nnnope." He nodded slowly. "It did not."

"You... didn't have to do that. I would have understood. I'd hate if things with Minato were completely ruined on my behalf."

"You couldn't have said that back there?" He shook his head, but then just smiled wryly. He really couldn't be mad at her. He almost found it funny, really. She seemed to catch on to that fact, and after a moment of hesitation she was smiling.

"Well... I was a little distracted. You, um, looked really cool... and hearing that made me happy." Kaie blushed shyly. Madoka reached over and patted her on the head.

"Well, that's good to hear." His hand then dropped and he shut his eyes. "Hell of a way to end my week. God damn I'm tired."

"I'd imagine," Kaie said. "But try to stay awake. I think Oriha's cooking right now, since we left before we could eat." Now that he thought about it, she was right.

"I am _so _glad I found her." He chuckled. He knew he'd have never found enough motivation to cook for himself right now.

**. . .**

Dinner had been a short affair. Madoka had simply had no mental energy to do much more than eat and then head to his room. He was just about to climb into bed when suddenly he flew into it, but not of his own accord. He felt a push from behind and he was launched off his feet. He rolled onto his back just in time to see Benitsubasa jump and land on his chest, knocking the wind out of him.

"H-hi?" Madoka coughed. "What's up?" he asked weakly, trying to catch his breath.

"Are we OK?" she asked, her head laying against him so that he couldn't quite see her face, but just the top of her head.

"What do you mean?" He couldn't think of a reason he wouldn't be OK with her.

"I... didn't say too much?"

It seemed she was worried about her outburst earlier. "Nah. I was going to completely wuss out if you hadn't said anything." He definitely wouldn't have had the guts to say what he had if Benitsubasa hadn't inspired him with her rant.

"Oh... well... that's good." Benitsubasa still sounded worried. "I... I just get really angry when people talk bad about you... and... I just... I don't want to remind you of _her_. You said... I... Never mind."

"Huh?" Madoka was confused, but his mind managed to piece together her meaning. He'd told her that he'd broken up with he ex, Hiromi, because he got tired of her inserting herself into his life when he didn't necessarily want her too. He'd said she used to fight a lot of his battles. "Oh..."

He guessed that Benitsubasa was worried that she was going down that same road by sticking up for him. She'd fought back when Yukari had bad mouthed him, and now when Minato had asked Madoka to apologize for the fight against the lightning twins.

"Well... I guess if I hadn't before... sorry." Benitsubasa began to push off of him, but he stopped her.

"No, it's OK. Don't worry about it. As far as Hiromi goes, I'm in a good place. And trust me, you're fine. I can't be upset over the fact that you care about me." After he said that, Benitsubasa placed her hands on his chest and pushed herself up so she could look into his eyes.

"Y-yeah! Exactly! That's why!" she insisted before staying like that, staring at him. "M-Madoka-kun... I... I..."

"Come on, spit it ou-" Suddenly, she just grabbed his face and kiss him deeply. She held it until well after the shock of it wore off and he was fully aware of the sensation of her lips against his. And as suddenly as it had begun, she flew off of him and out of the room. ". . . Goodnight?"Benitsubasa was usually fairly straightforward, but sometimes, like now, he just didn't get her.

**. . .**

Madoka found it was a _little_ hard to sleep after Benitsubasa's kiss. He'd been left restless and a bit too hot. He'd had to sleep with his sheets kicked to the foot of the bed most of the night. He really didn't want to get out of bed, but eventually his various biological needs won out. At least he always had Oriha's cooking to look forward too; that made mornings easier.

Breakfast, it seemed, would have to wait though. He barely took two steps out of his bathroom before Benitsubasa effectively tackled him and pushed him back into his room and all the way onto his bed. Rather than be flung onto it though, Benitsubasa just had him sit.

"So-"

"I didn't finish saying what I wanted to last night!" Benitsubasa blurted out, standing in front of him, pacing back and forth and biting her thumb nail anxiously.

"I... noticed." Madoka couldn't even begin to guess. Possibly because his eyes were barely open, but still, Benitsubasa was acting particularly antsy. He couldn't think of a reason why, either. The Minato situation was hardly something that would concern her, at least not to this extent, and pretty much everything else was under control that he could think of. She continued her strange behavior, silently, though occasionally throwing nervous glances at him.

She seemed to build herself up for something, but then look at him and lose all courage. Every time took a little longer, and every time she recoiled a little worse. Eventually she sat beside him, mouth hanging open, but words not coming out, and so she jumped back up and resumed pacing.

"Benitsubasa..." Madoka said finally, causing her to jump and freeze in place, staring at him wide-eyed. "Just say it. Seriously. Nothing you could have to say could possibly be that bad." They were so close at this point, and it was impossible that she could have some big, dark secret. He'd be ready for whatever she threw at him.

"I love you!" Or so he thought. He found himself, smiling slightly, but otherwise just staring at her blankly. Benitsubasa was now facing away from him, arms wrapped around herself.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa had said it. Obviously she'd felt it for weeks, months really, but she'd never said it. It seemed silly to make it a big deal, after all, shouldn't it have been obvious by now? And yet here they were, standing in awkward silence.

It had been yesterday that had built her up to this point. She'd felt like Madoka had become a criminal in everyone's eyes, and it had made her so angry. She'd had to say something, or she'd have felt wrong. When she'd asked herself why she'd gone so far, the answer had come easily. She loved Madoka. Those feelings had been a part of her for so long, she'd almost forgotten she'd never said it.

She'd needed to say it. And now, she needed him to answer her. She needed to hear him say it back. She had to believe he would. If he didn't... then what was she even doing? That's what made her hesitate. Whether or not he cared about, accepted, and liked her wasn't a question anymore. It was how deep his feelings ran that she questioned. Was it love? Would he admit it? If he didn't, then what did that mean?

She didn't know what she'd do if he didn't. Everything was hazy right now. She didn't know what the next few seconds would bring. Her heart was doing flips. It felt awful, but there was also just the slightest bit of excitement. If he did respond positively... well she wasn't sure what she'd do then either, but it wouldn't matter. She'd be happy.

"C-come on, Madoka-kun." Benitsubasa spun around, slowly, to face him. "It's your turn! At least say _something_!" _"You love me too, right?"_ But she couldn't say that part out loud, her lips would only obey her up to a point.

**. . .**

Avaron had tried to prepare him for this, but so much had been going on lately, he'd put sorting out his feelings on the back-burner. He'd been happy enough to just get Kaie and Oriha to get along, through whatever miracle had facilitated that. He didn't know what to say to her. He didn't want to hurt her, but he... was scared.

What exactly was she asking him? Was she asking him to pick her? If he said he loved her, then what? Was he ready to walk down that road? There was that part of him that wondered if he could say it and have things just proceed as normal.

There was one other thing, though. This wasn't just a set of three words that he was debating over. At the end of the day, did it really matter what he wanted to say? What did he actually feel? Shouldn't that be the deciding factor?

"I... uhhh..." It should be, but he could barely even think straight right now. He was worrying too much. This wasn't what he'd expected to wake up to. When it came down to it, there were four of them, and he cared about all of them. How could he ever possibly pick and put them through that?

"S-sorry!" Benitsubasa suddenly retreated, taking a few rapid steps away from him. "I-I shouldn't be ambushing you with a question like that! So, um, forget it! Err, w-well don't forget it! It's good enough that I could tell you how I feel... You don't have to say anything back." She stared at the floor, shuffling her feet awkwardly.

"Uh, y-yeah. You caught me off guard with that one. It's... um... good to hear. Though, I think everyone already knew." Madoka laughed nervously. Benitsubasa smiled back weakly and nodded, a guilty blush painting her face.

"Well, breakfast will probably be ready soon... so... I'll just get out of your way," Benitsubasa mumbled and began to leave. As much as she was playing it off for his benefit, Madoka could still tell she was, at the very least, disappointed. He didn't want to think about how she really felt. He needed to do _something._

"Hey, wait up." Madoka walked over to his nightstand and pulled open a drawer. It was hardly the most ingenious hiding place, but he trusted his sekirei to not go through his things. He pulled out a small, wrapped package; the one he'd received from Benitsubasa's tuner. "I have something for you. Your tuner gave it to me." And he immediately regretted it. What was he doing? Was he seriously trying to bribe her into not being upset with him? It seemed he was, though he wished he wasn't. It was too late now though. What was he to do, tell her to forget it?

To make it even worse, he now recalled that Satoru had told him to be careful when giving it to her, at least with regards to timing. He had a feeling that this was a _really_ bad time. Feeling he'd effectively whittled his options down to one, he carried it over to a curious Benitsubasa. She at least seemed to be distracted from her other worries, if only momentarily. He figured at this point he could only hope for the best.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa tilted her head curiously. She wasn't sure what to think. Thinking wasn't exactly her strong point on a good day, and so far this... wasn't. She figured Madoka have pitied her, or felt bad, and that was why he was giving her the gift. She was happy to receive it, but that left her mood neutral at best.

As she lifted her hand to grab the gift, she noticed Madoka flinch slightly, as if he was hesitant to actually give it to her. Again, she wasn't in much of a mood for thinking, so instead of pondering any strange behavior on Madoka's part, she simply snatched the gift out of his hands.

She stepped past him to sit on the foot of his bed and began to unwrap the gift. She pulled the sting binding it undone, and then pulled away the plain, brown paper wrapping. It was a picture. As she stared at it, she was at first confused, but soon her fingers tightened around the frame.

**. . .**

Madoka looked at the picture frame in Benitsubasa's hands. He stepped around her, trying to peek at it and see what it was. However, as he was about to sit down next to her, Benitsubasa suddenly flew to her feet, and with an angry roar tossed the object at the wall.

He quickly backed away as Benitsubasa stood there, panting and shaking. She then covered her face with her hands, fingertips clawing at herself. He glanced nervously between her and the fallen picture frame. He had no idea what was wrong, but he was now certain that his timing had been absolutely awful.

He took a step toward her, but she looked out from behind her hands, just for a moment, and upon seeing him she fled. However, he was between her and the door, so she ended up only a few feet away, at his bedside, with her back to him. She fell to her knees, clutching handfuls of his sheets and hiding her face with them. Her body shook and heaved, and by the gasping sounds that escaped her mouth, he realized she was doing something he'd never seen before.

She was crying – sobbing uncontrollably.

He had to know. He slowly backed up, stunned by the sight of her crying that he for a moment couldn't look away, but eventually he reached the picture. He picked it up and in a way was surprised to find he recognized it. Ignoring the now badly damaged frame, it was a sketch of Benitsubasa as a princess. He remembered Benitsubasa telling him about such a sketch, but this was clearly new.

The sketch was mostly gray-scale and pencil, but Benitsubasa's hair and eyes had been colored in softly, with light shades of pink and red that starkly contrasted with the rest of the picture but without being too extreme. It depicted her at her current age, while he assumed the original that Benitsubasa had told him about would have been of her as a child. Satoru must have made it after they'd visited him.

He turned once more to see Benitsubasa, still crying and curled up in the corner. Somehow, this was the most vulnerable he'd ever seen her. It hurt. He put the picture down on his bed as he approached her. He couldn't do this anymore. He couldn't let his apprehension freeze him in place, not anymore. He reached out for her.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa couldn't hold herself together. The picture had shattered her strength. It reminded her of her birthday so long ago, when she'd gotten a picture just like that one. Madoka was her ashikabi, he was supposed to be what she was missing. She didn't need a hero or a prince, she just needed to feel complete.

She'd tried to be brave, to be honest, to finally get the one thing she wanted more than anything else, and he'd shied away from her. She was broken in countless ways, and she feared she'd be stuck that way. If he wasn't going to be there for her, no one would be. It was the loneliest feeling in the world.

And now she was crying in front of him, and that weak, pathetic feeling only made her cry harder even as she fought to stop. She couldn't even keep her dignity. She wasn't even his tough girl anymore... she wasn't anything.

She felt him touch her, and she flinched, pulling away, but he grabbed her arm tightly. He pulled her close, and she tried to stop him, but couldn't. It was so unfair. This was his fault, but yet he was the only one who could truly comfort her. In the end, she couldn't stop him from holding her. She gave up and just cried into his shoulder. She gave into her weakness selfishness and just waited for the pain in her heart to begin fading, resolving to take what she could get.

"I'm sorry," he told her. She wanted to tell him to shut up. She didn't want to hear an apology. That would just hurt more. He began to pull away, and she began to panic. What if she never got to be this close again. She frantically pulled at him, wanting to stay next to him as long as possible, but in the end it didn't matter. He took her face in his hands, looking into her eyes. "I'm an idiot. I shouldn't have done this to you. I've made a lot of mistakes... I'm sure I'm going to make more... but... right now, I'm not going to let myself make another. I _do_ love you."

"Madoka... No!" Benitsubasa grabbed his wrists. What was he doing? He wasn't lying, was he? "Don't do this unless-" She was supposed to be strong, that was what she was made for, but her arms felt like soft rubber as he brought her close once more and kissed her.

She felt like she was going to explode. Her entire body was on fire. He wasn't lying, and suddenly every last bit of her could feel it. She let go of his wrists and snaked her arms around him. She was his and he was hers. The feeling of weakness was gone as if it had never been there. He'd never escape her.

**. . .**

Madoka lost track of time, but when he resurfaced into reality, he found himself laying on the ground, Benitsubasa beside him, holding her hand with fingers interlocked. They both stared up at the ceiling silently. He felt... different. Lighter. A weight that had been on him for so long he'd almost forgotten it had been there was now gone.

Benitsubasa rolled on top of him, smiling. Seeing her so happy made _him_ happy, and he knew this had been the right thing to do. He'd worry about the fallout later. He couldn't forget about the others, but she was special to him. There was a fire in her that resonated with him. She made him want to fight back against life – against anything that would seek hold him down.

"This is real, right?" she asked him, and he nodded. "Say it again..."

"I love you." He leaned his head up to kiss her again.

"Good." She lay against him. "You're... finally mine. I'll never let that change."

"Why would it?" He chuckled. "Afraid I'll hit my head and forget this all happened?"

"No... I just..." She sat up, straddling him. Her smile was gone. "I waited so long for this day. It was really hard. I know it's not over, though. There's still fighting to be done. Something could still get in my way..." She got off of him and backed away.

"We can worry about that later. Come back!" He grinned, propping himself up on his elbows. He was glad to finally have reached this point as well. He wanted to _enjoy_ it a little longer while they were still alone. She didn't respond the way he expected her to, though.

"No. I don't know how this stupid game is going to end, but you're finally _mine_. I'm keeping it that way. I'm not sharing! Until the end, one way or the other, you're _mine_!" She suddenly spun on her heel and stormed out of the room.

The grin faded from his face, replaced by horrified realization. This was bad.

**. . .**

Sukaime had had to find a place to hide. It was obvious to everyone what was going on in Madoka's room. Oriha and Kaie were _not_ happy. Sukaime wasn't sure how she felt. She'd found herself sitting in the hallway outside of Madoka's room. She was far enough away that she couldn't really hear what they were saying, and she was blocking herself from feeling emotions.

Suddenly the door opened and Benitsubasa walked out. Sukaime jumped to her feet, figuring congratulations were in order.

"Well, well. How'd it go, dear? Come on, gimme some details!" Sukaime smirked, walking over to Benitsubasa. If only she hadn't shut herself off, she'd have had some warning. As it was, the malicious glint in Benitsubasa's eyes were the only indication, and she noticed a half-second too late.

Benitsubasa's fist flew out and Sukaime spun around, ending up face-down on the floor. She tasted blood.

"Wh-wh-" Sukaime felt Benitsubasa sit on her back, and then she began to choke as Benitsubasa tore at her outfit, pulling it tight across her throat. Fortunately, the material gave way before her neck did, snapping and ripping. She felt Benitsubasa's finger on her crest and understood what Benitsubasa intended. "No..." Sukaime shut her eyes tightly, tears welling up. She didn't want this...

**. . .**

"STOP IT!" Madoka stormed out of his room, seeing Benitsubasa already on top of Sukaime. He grabbed Benitsubasa's arm, trying to pull her finger away from Sukaime's back. He succeeded, barely. Benitsubasa was in attack mode and was significantly stronger than him.

"No! You're _MINE!_" Benitsubasa shouted back, shrugging him off. Madoka, in desperation, grabbed Benitsubasa around the waist, lifting her completely off her feet and off of Sukaime. It didn't take long for Benitsubasa to claw her way out of his arms though, rounding on him. "Don't stop me! Just look away and I'll take care of everything! It'll be fine, just trust me!" Benitsubasa insisted, eyes fierce but dripping tears. "You picked _me_ didn't you? You knew this would happen!"

Madoka saw her turning back toward Sukaime. Sukaime was weakly trying to crawl away, but she'd have never escaped Benitsubasa. He knew he'd had to do something, but he never forgave himself. Before Benitsubasa could turn her back on him and attack Sukaime again, his hand flew out and he slapped her. He hated himself and it felt wrong. It was the exact opposite of what he'd just been feeling a minute ago.

It worked though. Benitsubasa was stuck in place, eyes wide and filled with pained shock.

"M-Madoka-kun?" she whimpered, sniffling. "I... wh-why?" Madoka turned his head away, unable to look her in the eyes.

"Go! Get out of my sight!" He pointed back into his room. When she didn't move, he raised his voice. "NOW! I SAID GO!" She flinched and scurried into his room, slamming the door behind her. Once she was gone he collapsed, back against the wall.

He didn't even ask Sukaime if she was OK. He was too wrapped up in his own turmoil. What was he going to do? Everything was falling apart. It was worse than he'd ever imagined.

"What's going on? Madoka-kun?" His reaction was delayed, but he rolled his head to the side to see Kaie kneeling next to him. Behind her, Oriha was helping Sukaime sit up. He didn't answer them. He had no answers.

"Isn't it obvious?" Oriha said. "Benitsubasa happened. He picked her and she wanted us out of the way. Right?"

"I... I guess so," Sukaime answered in Madoka's place. "So. What now?" Sukaime looked at Madoka. He still stayed silent. "HEY!" Sukaime yelled at him. "You're the ashikabi! You have to deal with this! Get on your feet!"

"I... I don't..." Madoka muttered helplessly.

"Madoka-kun." Kaie took his hand. "We'll help if you need us to, but... she's right. You're the only one who can do this."

Madoka felt lost, but he pushed himself to his feet. He couldn't even begin to predict what any course of action he took would lead to. However, he wasn't going to sit around and fret. No amount of time would let him come up with answers.

"OK... OK, let's go." Madoka sighed tiredly, despite only having woken up barely an hour ago. He walked into his room, his three other sekirei behind him. He found Benitsubasa sitting on the floor facing away from them.

She looked over her shoulder and glared at Sukaime, Oriha, and Kaie.

"What are you going to do?" Benitsubasa asked.

"I... don't know..." Madoka admitted. "Benitsubasa, help me. Can't you make this one easy for me? You don't have to get rid of them."

"I get it." Benitsubasa looked away. "Fine then. Have it your way." She didn't look happy, but maybe- Suddenly she undid the cloth belt at her waist and shrugged off her top, revealing her back. "Go ahead then! If you can't bring yourself to get rid of them, then get rid of me!"

"B-Beni-"

"COME ON! MAKE UP YOUR MIND ALREADY! THEM OR ME! _FUCKING PICK! MAKE A GODDAMN DECISION ALREADY! END THIS!"_ Benitsubasa screamed until the walls shook and his ears ached. He clenched his fists, biting back tears.

"OK," Madoka whispered. He turned his head to look at the sekirei at his side. Specifically, Sukaime. "Go on then." He motioned for them to go ahead. He saw Benitsubasa flinch and then go limp, arms falling to her side.

"Wh-what? No! I'm not doing that!" Sukaime backed away. "Sh-she..." Sukaime shut her eyes. "She's my friend!That's _your_ fault! You can't ask me to do this!"

"She tried to kill you. She'll try again, so for your own sake, get rid of her while you still can." Each word hurt coming out of his mouth. Each word was hollow and lifeless.

"I said _no!"_ Sukaime was resolute though. Madoka turned to his other sekirei next.

"Oriha, go on. I'm pretty sure you have a lot less reason to hesitate," Madoka urged his smallest sekirei to take action. Oriha took a step forward, but then put her hands behind her back.

"Nope." Oriha shook her head. "I don't want to. It wouldn't feel right."

"Kaie then!" Madoka looked to his last sekirei, fists clenched. "I won't hold it against you."

"No, Madoka-kun. This isn't what you want, so it's not what we want," Kaie refused as well, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. "We all know that."

**. . .**

Sukaime had made a mistake. She'd said Madoka _had_ to do this. But no, that wasn't right. This was a sekirei problem. She'd take care of this. Madoka had believed in them, rejected MBI's game as much as he could, and given them this opportunity. She'd take it. They'd all take it. She'd make sure of it.

She walked over to Benitsubasa and grabbed her shoulder.

"Hmph, you dummy! Look at me!" Sukaime snapped. "You're pissing me off! You said MBI can go burn, so stop going by their rules! Just stick with us! Stick with me! I know it was cheating, but I already know how you feel! Don't let that change! I'm not cheating now, so just... just show me that hasn't changed!" Sukaime fell to her knees and pulled Benitsubasa into a hug.

Benitsubasa's weight loosely fell against her. Slowly she felt Benitsubasa begin to move. Benitsubasa's arms lifted up and went around her. Sukaime held her breath, unsure of what Benitsubasa was going to do. She'd told the truth, and left her ability off. She couldn't feel what Benitsubasa felt.

"You idiot," Benitsubasa hissed.

Benitsubasa's hand went to her crest immediately. Sukaime went stiff, a sob catching in her throat. She'd trusted her. Was this all she got for that trust? Were they really all doomed this fate? She'd wanted to believe that sekirei could change and fight back. She'd hoped that Benitsubasa more than anyone would be able to prove it was possible.

"My fists... hold..." Benitsubasa began haltingly. "Dammit..." Sukaime suddenly felt the pressure against her back increase. Instead of just one finger, Benitsubasa's whole hand grasped her back. Benitsubasa returned the embrace tightly, and Sukaime felt her trembling. "DAMMIT!" Benitsubasa wailed, and began bawling like a sad child.

Sukaime breathed a shaky sigh of relief. It had been touch and go, but it had also been worth the risk. She'd thought she'd seen a kinder, warmer side to Benitsubasa. She'd been afraid she'd been mistaken, or overestimated how strong that side of her was. Now though, with Benitsubasa right in front of her, clinging to her and crying her heart out, she knew she'd been right. She'd just needed to break free of her other side.

**. . .**

Benitsubasa couldn't find the energy to care anymore. Hating, fighting, and killing; all of that was beyond her right now. She just wanted to let out a half-decade of pent up tears and frustration. She just wanted to be warm. She'd felt it and realized her biggest fear: being alone. Alone without Madoka, or even alone with him. She'd been charging down a path that would have left her facing that fear.

If she'd succeeded, then each one of them she'd have terminated would have left her farther from Madoka and her life a little emptier. She had to face the fact that Sukaime now held a place in her life and she couldn't just excise her painlessly.

She felt another pair of arms wrap around her and Sukaime as well.

"Never do that again! You hear me?" It was Madoka, joining her with tears of his own. "Just... don't!"

"I'm sorry..." Benitsubasa whimpered quietly, finding words hard to form. She felt drained and her body barely obeyed her commands. Finally Madoka released her and Sukaime, letting her stand.

She stood there, quickly pulling her top back on and fumbling to tie it shut. After that, she just gripped the hem tightly, not knowing what to say. She felt guilty and ashamed. She felt like she had to say something,but nothing came to her.

She glanced up and her eyes went wide. While she'd been preoccupied, Oriha had walked up to her. Her mouth opened, but no words had a chance to come forth as Oriha hugged her next. She stayed that way for a moment, mouth hanging open dumbly as Oriha embraced her.

"It's OK. We're all the same, right? We all love Madoka. If I just look at it that way, it makes me a little happy. I love him, so I'm glad that he's loved. So... I'm OK with you." Oriha pulled away and stepped back. "Let's just go from here."

"I-I-I... bu-... y-..." Benitsubasa was a stuttering wreck. She was completely flabbergasted. How was it that she'd done something so awful and yet ended up in this situation? It wasn't over yet, though. Kaie walked over to her and took her hand, squeezing it.

"She's right. I had to learn the same lesson as you, in a way, though fortunately it wasn't quite so harsh for me. So far... it's... a lot less painful if you open yourself up. Being alone hurts, right?" Benitsubasa could only nod in response as Kaie let her hand go.

Benitsubasa raised her hands to her eyes, trying to wipe them clear of the tears that just kept coming.

"Screw it!" Benitsubasa suddenly exclaimed. "If this is what we're doing, then fine! But you don't get to skip out!" She shot an accusatory scowl at a confused Kaie. "And I'm going to punish you for trying!"

"I don't underst-" Kaie was cut off as Benitsubasa leapt, tackling her off her feet. Once she had Kaie on the ground she hugged her as tightly as she dared without actually hurting the other girl.

"Yes! Everyone get her!" Sukaime cheered.

"Oh dear..." Kaie gulped as Sukaime jumped on top of Benitsubasa, and thus Kaie. Oriha soon joined the pile of sekirei.

**. . .**

Madoka was in a state of blissful disbelief. The day had started with him screwing up Benitsubasa's confession, been followed by Sukaime nearly being killed by Benitsubasa, and led to him suggesting his sekirei terminate Benitsubasa to put the drama to rest. And yet now he was watching all four of his sekirei affectionately jumping on top of each other.

Of course he'd never wanted any of them terminated. He wasn't sure what he'd have actually done if Oriha or Kaie, he'd known Sukaime would say no, had actually agreed. He'd had zero intentions when he'd said that. No plan whatsoever. He'd put everything in their hands... and it had worked out.

He'd felt ready to drop dead, but seeing his sekirei so happy gave him just enough energy to keep his feet and smile.

"Hey! We can't leave him out of this!" Sukaime poked her head up from the sekirei dog-pile.

"Eh?" Madoka twitched. Oh god no. He took a step back as the heads of the other three all snapped around to stare at him. He was a helpless fawn before a pack of wolves. "No! No no no!" They untangled themselves from each other and began getting to their feet. He reached behind him to push his bedroom door open to clear his escape path. He tried to run, but when they charged there was no escape.

Benitsubasa reached him first, and the rest followed.

* * *

><p><strong>Holy hell. I did it. I've had that idea for <em>years<em>. It's strange to finally have it all written down. It's been a hell of a journey. And now Benitsubasa and Madoka are finally _together_.**

**In a way, it almost feels like I could end this fic here. But don't panic, there's still more to be done.**

**Note: I posted the timeline (up until this point) of the story on my tumblr. Links can be found on my profile if you're interested.**

**Til' next time!**


	39. I Hate Ingrates

**I Hate Ingrates**

The last few days had been quite something. Everything felt different. There had long been a tension in the air for everyone had been wound up painfully tight. Wherever one looked one would see a mask – a fake smile or look of indifference to hide resentment.

Now those masks had all been thrown down, broken, and swept away. After the initial moment had finally passed, there had been a long silence. There had been a moment where Benitsubasa had wondered what would happen. When all the hugging and laughing was over, she'd thought perhaps the jealousy in the hearts of her fellow sekirei would win out and bring it all crashing down. No one had seemed to know what to say or do next.

And thus a bombshell had dropped to shatter the silence. Sukaime suddenly told them all that she hadn't reacted to Madoka. She'd taken it upon herself to act as a "neutral party" and asked them all if they had anything like that to share. After that, Benitsubasa's worries had ceased. Madoka had decided it would be a good idea if they all did just that.

And so, for the rest of that evening and the next morning they'd all sat around the house and told each other everything. Sukaime's story about how she'd actually met her fated ashikabi and missed out, Oriha's story about her "mother," Kaie's story about her sister and Madoka's kidnapping, and then Benitsubasa even told them a somewhat abridged version of the story she'd told Madoka while sitting in the large tree in the park.

Benitsubasa had then insisted that Madoka tell the others about his ex girlfriends. However, Benitsubasa noted that he left out his third girlfriend, though she supposed that one hardly counted – so she told them for him, because she decided it would be funny. He'd looked a little aggravated, but the looks on everyone's faces had been well worth it.

That first night following what had happened, she'd been forced to sleep in the living room like normal as a sort of punishment for hurting Sukaime. As further punishment, when Sukaime asked if she could make Benitsubasa do whatever she wanted... Madoka had agreed. Sukaime had decided that she'd make Benitsubasa share her sleeping bag to keep her warm that night. She might have accepted Sukaime as her friend, but it was still a bit awkward... and cramped. Admittedly very warm, though.

Benitsubasa felt even warmer at the moment. She opened her eyes and the sight that greeted her made her heart swell. It was a joyous feeling that sent tingles throughout her body and left her smiling uncontrollably. Next to her was Madoka in the same bed as her, with no line of pillows or other barrier dividing them.

She pulled herself closer, draping herself over his chest. She looked at his sleeping face and another wave of euphoria surged through her. He was finally hers. It wasn't just the pillows that were gone, the emotional barrier he'd long maintained was gone, no longer keeping her at bay. If she wanted to kiss him, right at that moment, she could. She wouldn't have to worry about annoying him or getting scolded – she could just do it.

Those thoughts in mind, she leaned in closer, his lips her destination. He cracked an eye open before she reached him and she pulled back, just smiling and wondering what he'd do.

"Oh... hey. What time is it?" he asked her sleepily.

"I dunno. Early?" Benitsubasa replied.

"That explains the burning sensation in my eyes." He shut said eyes and leaned his head back onto his pillow. "So... how you feeling? OK?" he asked her.

"Never better!" She threw herself at him, though she was barely an inch away, putting her arms around his neck and nuzzling him affectionately.

"I don't think I've ever seen you this happy," Madoka told her, "the smiling thing is kind of creepy." The warm chuckle that escaped him let her know he didn't mean that last bit.

"I just... I can't get used to it. I'm so close to you, so warm, and I keep expecting it to be a dream, but then I don't wake up. I don't think I _want_ to get used to it. It's too good." She shut her eyes too, listening to his heartbeat and feeling his chest rise and fall as he breathed. The best part was that there was no tension. She was holding onto him, but she didn't have to cling desperately. There would be no rude interruption to tear her away this time. Their bodies would have to part at some point, but he'd always come back and she had his love no matter what. "Can you say it again? Y-you know..."

"Love you." She felt his hand fall upon her back and begin gently rubbing it. In response she popped her head up and this time made sure to bring her lips all the way to his without hesitation. She held it long enough for him to return it before pulling back. "You say you're not used to it, but you seem content to take advantage of things."

"I'm greedy." She just grinned. "Are you complaining?"

"Nah. Now, since you've disturbed me, you can help me wake up all the way!" He suddenly rolled over and pinned her beneath him.

"Eek!" One, excited squeak was all she could manage before he silenced her with his lips against hers.

**-The Previous Night-**

They'd run out of stories to tell. Benitsubasa had lived with them for weeks and months, but it felt like she'd only just begun to know who they were. It had been like living with Madoka, Sukaime, and a pair of strangers. Even with Sukaime, she hadn't really known too much about her. She'd just spent a lot of time with her – willing or not.

Of course, now Sukaime was someone she'd even call a friend. She had a feeling that Sukaime was going to be an _annoying_ friend and abuse that fact, but that didn't change how she felt. However, what Sukaime did next was as far from annoying as possible in Benitsubasa's mind.

"So..." Sukaime spoke up, staring at Madoka intently, "if you two are, well, _together_ now... shouldn't you be taking her on dates?"

"Uhhh..." Madoka tilted his head thoughtfully. "I... I guess, yeah." He nodded.

"Well! No time like the present, right?" Sukaime popped up onto her feet. "Hm. Beni's dress got trashed, so I guess I better give her her clothes back!" Sukaime had been wearing the outfit Madoka had bought Benitsubasa, since Benitsubasa had ruined Sukaime's outfit the day before.

"Um, I'm fi- WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Benitsubasa screeched when, before their eyes, Sukaime began to strip her clothes off, already beginning to pull her shirt up over her head. Benitsubasa jumped up and grabbed her wrists to stop her. "I-I'll just wear my normal outfit!" she insisted before Sukaime ended up naked.

Sukaime let the shirt fall back into place before crossing her arms and pouting. "Fine, fine. I just wanted to help!"

"Yeah, you're totally not just an exhibitionist..." Oriha grumbled. "Pervert."

"Hey, hey! I'm not _just_ an exhibitionist!" Sukaime complained. "I'm just as much into voyeurism! I go _both_ ways!"

"Right then!" Madoka quickly stood. "That's enough of that! I get it! Benitsubasa, put your boots on, we're going!"

"Ahh, see? Madoka-kun is pickin' up what I'm puttin' down!" Sukaime grinned.

**. . .**

They'd already eaten lunch, thanks to Oriha, as usual, so Madoka had asked her what she wanted to do since going out to eat didn't make sense. Benitsubasa had him bring her to an arcade, something she hadn't done in a long time. She was out of practice, but she still beat him in almost every game they played. Superhuman reflexes had their uses.

It was after they'd killed enough time walking around and at the arcade that Madoka bought food. It was simple, grabbing some food to go at a place that served things like burgers and french fries, but it was different and she was with Madoka, so she couldn't complain.

It hadn't been an exciting date, but it had been fun. He hadn't done it out of obligation or to cheer her up. He'd done it for the sake of it, because they were finally together. This wasn't them "hanging out" – this was a real date. Or it had been anyway.

The date was effectively over. She had one arm linked with his while she licked the salt off of her other hand as they walked.

"You're a heathen." Madoka chuckled as he watched her lick her fingers clean.

"No! I'm _fun!_ You love me!" She could actually say that now without having a nervous breakdown born of doubt and lack of self-confidence. A lot of things were different now, and usually for the better so far.

"That's no excuse for terrible manners."

"Well I'm not changing! You get what you get!"

"What if I ask _really_ nicely?" Madoka smirked and halted.

"Wh-what do you-" He suddenly put an arm around her waist and pulled her close to his chest. She blushed, but leaned in, lips puckered. Then... nothing. "M-Madoka?"

"In public? I think someone might notice." He looked far too amused for her liking.

"Don't tease me like that, it's mean!" She complained, turning her head away. What happened next left her reeling. With her head turned, her neck was exposed, and suddenly something warm and soft brushed against it. The gentle brushing sensation quickly became more intense and left her whole body tingling. He was kissing her neck. "U-um, wh-wh-wha-" Her knees felt weak as an electric sensation rocked her. It was almost as good as, if not better than, kissing, but without the worry of her wings giving away what she was.

Unfortunately, the moment was over all too soon.

"Better? Don't worry, you'll get all the kisses you want when we get home."

"A-all I want?" She looked deep into his eyes.

"Would I lie to you?" That was it. She was all serious now. She was blushing more than ever, but she was rock steady and tight lipped as she pulled away, grabbed his wrist, and began rapidly dragging him home. She hadn't had a proper, uninterrupted "moment" with him since they'd confessed to each other. She'd sort of gone off the deep end last time. "B-be gentle," Madoka requested jokingly.

She pulled him around a corner and had to stop to avoid running into another young couple. Not bothering to excuse herself, Benitsubasa was prepared to just duck past them and hurry onward, but something gave her pause. It was an unfortunate truth that it paid to examine any young couple one came across, considering the nature of the Sekirei Plan.

Rather than run past and expose her back, upon closer examination of the pair, Benitsubasa took a step back, pushing Madoka away from the other two.

"Please don't tell me what I think you're about to tell me," Madoka said uneasily, allowing Benitsubasa to herd him to a safer position.

"Thirteen, it looks like they're a pair like us!" a young girl with black hair tied into a pair of ponytails said.

"So it seems," her sekirei responded. The voice seemed more male than female, but he was rather small and had a large cloak covering everything but his head and his short, light colored hair. His facial features were youthful and borderline effeminate.

"Dammit..." Madoka swore and grit his teeth.

"Wait! I remember you two!" the girl spoke up. "You were on TV! You won one of those jinki! Do you have it? If we beat you, give it to us!"

"I-it's not with me, so how about we ju-"

"Then take us to it after we beat you!" she insisted.

"Are you stupid? We saw that he has more sekirei on TV!" her sekirei's demeanor didn't seem to match his small build. "However, I'm perfectly content smashing the one he has with him. We can worry about jinki later!" He grinned viciously.

"Just... one... fucking... date..." Benitsubasa growled, clenching her fists.

"Eh? What's that?" The other sekirei tilted his head.

"I JUST WANT ONE FUCKING DATE WITHOUT ANY OF THIS BULLSHIT!" Benitsubasa screamed, rage already peaked. "Fine! You want to go, bitch?" Benitsubasa rammed a fist into her palm. "Then let's go! I don't have all night! I'm number 105, Benitsubasa!"

"Amebane, number 13," the other sekirei introduced himself. "Who are you calling a bitch? Eh? Let's see how you stack up before you keep running your mouth!" Benitsubasa figured she'd oblige and charged in, throwing a punch. Amebane just grinned, threatening to split his face in half, and as she got close retaliated in kind, his own fist shooting out of his cloak to collide with hers.

Benitsubasa was slightly concerned when their hits broke even with neither being pushed back. She'd been hoping for a quick victory, but if he could compete with her in terms of raw power it might take a bit longer. Her eyes went wide when he pulled back his other fist and it began to glow. His fists were encased in black gloves, but right now his hand was shining.

Benitsubasa pulled back and brought up her arms to block, but even bracing herself she was thrown back and left tumbling, but she rolled to a knee. She decided that the fight might end up taking a _lot_ longer. She was going to win though. She had kisses waiting for her!

She rushed back in, sliding to a stop and leaning back to avoid a hook aimed for her head. She threw her own punch back, but it was dodged in similar fashion. She hopped back to avoid his next punch, but this time he followed through, striking the ground and spraying her with shrapnel.

She smirked. Two could play that game. Before he could follow up, she brought her own fist down with even greater impact.

"SHOCKWAVE!" The ground tore apart, a fissure heading in his direction. However, Amebane just jumped over it. She probably should have considered that response. Well fine, now he was an easy target! "SHREDDER!" Her palms shot out to "catch" him. Violently.

Unfortunately, his fist come down, striking her wrists and knocking her hands away before they could touch him. She then took a punch to the gut, and then one to the jaw that spun her around. He then grabbed the back of her head and slammed her face down into the sidewalk.

Rather than be stunned, Benitsubasa just let her anger consume her. With a roar, she twisted and sent her elbow back into his face, knocking him off of her. She then rotated her whole body around, bringing her boot across _his _ jaw. She then jumped to her feet, grabbed his shoulders, and rammed her forehead into his nose.

He stumbled back, grabbing his bloodied nose, but only with one hand. His other hand whipped out immediately, seeking and earning retribution as Benitsubasa was backhanded away from him. She wished she could call it an even fight, but her growing headache spoke otherwise. Well, she had one idea that might give her an edge. She needed a... morale boost.

While Amebane was busy bleeding on himself, Benitsubasa turned and trotted over to Madoka.

"Uh, um... I need a favor..." she mumbled nervously. "I... uh... s-say it again!" That was the only way she could bring herself to say it on short notice.

"What? Right now? But there's witnesses! It's embarrassing!" Madoka complained. Benitsubasa's jaw dropped and she stared at him incredulously. Was he seriously doing this? Now? When she needed him?

"R-really? What the hell-" Benitsubasa was about to scold him thoroughly when he suddenly grabbed her face, leaned down, and kissed her forehead.

"Kidding! Love you! You seriously are extra cute when you're flustered, though." Madoka chuckled as he stood back up. "Go get 'em!" Benitsubasa, meanwhile, had lost all mental functions. Her mind had ground to a screeching halt. Her face was red and one might have expected steam to be pouring out of her ears. When she finally snapped back to reality she whipped around to hide her face.

"M-Madoka-kun! That was too far!" She clutched her face shyly. Despite her "complaint" she looked and sounded plenty happy.

"A-Amebane-kun! Come here! Me too! I lo-" Amebane's ashikabi attempted to wave him over, but was silenced when he turned his head in her direction and snarled.

"Shut up, trash! I don't need your drivel!" Amebane spat back, causing her to flinch and whimper. "I'll use you when I choose!"

"Excuse me?" Benitsubasa twitched. Had she really just witnessed that?

"What?" Amebane looked at her quizzically, still seeming annoyed.

"Did... you just... _seriously_... _STOP_ your ashikabi from being nice to you?" Benitsubasa seethed, shaking with rage.

"Yeah? Why the fuck not? She's a piece of human filth that's beneath me! I only keep her around because for some stupid reason I apparently _need_ her to use my full strength! It's a pain in the ass if you ask me!" Amebane scoffed. Benitsubasa nearly blew a gasket on the spot.

"She was... about to... and you interrupted... and..." She was having trouble computing Amebane's actions. Between her rage and her disbelief, she just couldn't fathom his mindset. She just knew it pissed her off. "Hate. I hate you. I seriously, seriously hate you."

"Fine by me!" Amebane rushed her, aiming for her already abused face. Once he was in range, Benitsubasa's eyes shot wide-open with fury and she leaned past his fist, her own hitting home on his cheek. His momentum was stopped and then reversed as she blew him away, rocketing him all the way back to his ashikabi.

"YOU FUCKING IDIOT! GET BACK HERE! I'M NOT DONE WITH YOU!" She was well past snapping and was ready to go on a vindictive rampage for as long as Amebane was still alive enough to take a beating. She was seeing red. She then paused, realizing that she was literally seeing red. She looked down at herself and saw a faint, red aura coming from her body. "Huh?"

"Dammit! You want to be useful, pig? Come here!" Meanwhile, Amebane struggled to his feet and grabbed his ashikabi, pulling her into a less than romantic kiss. His ashikabi seemed to want to linger and savor the moment, but he shoved her off her feet for her trouble. "These are the palms of my pledge, by my bare hands destroy the foes of my ashikabi!"

Benitsubasa clenched her jaw. Her opponent had a norito ready.

"Benitsubasa!" Madoka called out to her. "Um, should we...?" Well, it made sense, but she didn't move. She just set her feet. It was stupid – incredibly and undeniably stupid. She was planning to just take it. Her body felt light, but she could feel something coursing through her, something powerful. She wanted to test it... whatever it was.

"I'm fine!" Benitsubasa called back to Madoka as she stared down Amebane.

"What?" Madoka shouted at her incredulously. She ignored him; she needed to focus.

Amebane flew at her, both fists shining with power swirling around them.

"MEGAFIST!" Amebane cried and threw a rather scary looking punch at her. Benitsubasa's hand shot out to catch it and a moment later she was obscured in a cloud of dust.

**. . .**

"BENITSUBASA!" Madoka yelled as he lost sight of her. Then next thing he knew, a blur shot past him and crashed into the sidewalk behind him, tearing up cement as it did. He realized that said blur was his sekirei turned projectile crash-landing. When he saw her lying motionless in a crater, his heart stopped. "No-"

"OW!" Benitsubasa shot up into a sitting position, shaking her head. "Dammit, that hurt!" Madoka's jaw dropped. Has she really just endured a norito? "Ugh, ow, OK! My turn!" She got back to her feet and stomped out of the crater she'd landed in.

"H-how?"

"Fuck if I know!" was Benitsubasa's only response, "but this little shit is _dead!"_

**. . .**

Benitsubasa was aching, and her left hand was throbbing something fierce after taking Amebane's norito-powered punch, but all things considered she felt pretty good. Besides the pain, she felt something new. She was getting used to that new feeling, and it was a good feeling. It was like something had been tying her down, but had finally broken loose. Her whole being felt in sync.

"Do you _get_ why I'm so pissed? Do you?" Benitsubasa raved at Amebane. "Do you know how long I had to fight to get where I am right now? How much _shit_ I had to go through to get what I wanted? And now I see you fucking squandering everything you're being given! She's practically throwing herself at you and you're just blowing her off! I NEARLY DIED LIKE THREE TIMES AND DIDN'T GET HALF OF THAT UNTIL JUST NOW!"

"What are you gonna do? Cry about it?" Amebane winced and rubbed his ear.

"Been there, done that. Now I'm just gonna pound my frustration into your face!" Benitsubasa cracked her knuckles. Something new. She needed something new. With this change she was experiencing, surely she could pull out something new that she hadn't used before. She closed her eyes and focused on the sense of power flowing through her, letting it well up and fill her. There, that was it.

She lowered herself and tightened her right fist. The red aura around her flared up and then began flowing into that fist. She took off running at Amebane who, judging by his lack of reaction, wasn't see what she was. Oh well, it would be a nasty surprise for him then.

His fists began to glow as she got close, but he suddenly seemed so slow. He threw a punch, but her left hand, battered as it was, easily reached out and pushed his arm aside. Her right fist suddenly gained a light of its own. The red aura that had been gathering around it seemed to ignite like a flare; a bright, sharp, bluish-white light covered her hand. She shoved her fist into his gut and that light detonated with a concussive burst as a word entered her mind.

"CRUSHER!" And as the word left her mouth, Amebane's feet left the ground and she propelled him straight back into the ground. He wasn't moving much after that, but he wasn't terminated yet. She was about ready to pummel him until she was satisfied, but she saw his ashikabi trembling, tears springing to her eyes. She couldn't do it.

She kicked Amebane, just hard enough to flip him over, and then pinned him down as her hand sought out his crest.

"My fists hold my vow, leave in ruin my ashikabi's foes," she chanted rather halfheartedly. She'd _really_ wanted to hit him some more. Halfhearted or not, though, his crest faded from existence.

"No! Amebane!" the now terminated sekirei's ashikabi cried out, tears now streaming down her face.

"I'm sorry... he didn't deserve you anyway." Benitsubasa shrugged, feeling she should say something.

"Shut up! What do you know? You're the one who took him from me!" the girl spat.

"H-he attacked _us_! Hell, he hit _you_! Why do you even care?" Benitsubasa was taken aback.

"He was mine! He was mine! Now I don't have anyone!" To Benitsubasa complete bewilderment, the girl actually had the stones to run over and _shove_ her, Benitsubasa, a sekirei who could have probably killed her with one finger. Benitsubasa stumbled back a few steps, staring at the girl before her who was now huddled over the fallen Amebane. She just didn't understand. Was she just that lonely that even a sekirei like Amebane was worth it in her mind?

"Wh-... bu-... I-..." Benitsubasa's head was spinning. She'd felt bad and she'd felt like she'd been doing this girl a favor, but now... "Are you stupid? I'm-" She jumped a little when Madoka's hand fell on her shoulder.

"Don't bother. Even if you're right, even if you _could_ get through to her, it's not gonna work right now. She'd too... out of it. She's not your responsibility anyway." Madoka shook his head and guided her away from the former pair. Once the sound of helicopter blades reached their ears they left to finish heading home.

After walking a little ways in silence, Benitsubasa couldn't hold her tongue. "I... I don't understand. I knew ashikabi could be bad, but... we _need_ you, not the other way around. Why would a sekirei ever push away their ashikabi?" Benitsubasa bit her thumbnail, eyes darting back and forth as she tried to reason things out.

"It makes sense to me. What if you hated me? Would you want to rely on me? Someone weaker than you? You might need us, but even before being winged, sekirei, generally speaking, are superior to us. I'm pretty sure the whole winging thing is the only thing keeping you sekirei from murdering us all..." Madoka's face went a little pale. "And... that's a scary thought. Kinda wish I hadn't thought it."

"I... I guess." She didn't think that way, and she loved Madoka, so she couldn't really understand how Amebane felt, but the words at least seemed to make sense in theory.

"Err, anyway. About what you said during that fight. I'm sorry..."

"Huh?" Benitsubasa's head snapped around to look at him. Why was he apologizing?

"I mean, uh, when you were yelling at him."

"What? No! You don't have to apologize! That was just... he was being bad! Sekirei shouldn't push away their ashikabi! Especially when their ashikabi actually wants them! Err, I mean... I-I think she was gonna say she loved him... but he didn't even want to hear it. I... I'd never have stopped you."

"Well, you almost did, because you were afraid I was lying..."

"Y-yeah, but she probably meant it! And... I... I was in a weird spot back then... I was scared."

"Heh, it's hard to imagine you being scared of anything." Madoka chuckled and threw an arm around her, pulling her close to his side as they walked. "But still... I guess I kinda knew I was, um, making your life difficult, but to hear you get upset like that... I'm sorry you had to go through that because of me."

"I told you! You don't have to apologize! It was different for you! You have to deal with four of us! It wasn't easy for you either. I... I understand. I'm glad you did it the way you did. And besides, it wasn't like you were a bad ashikabi, you were good to me. Not perfect, not what I wanted, but good." She blushed as she spoke. All those mushy feelings weren't really her thing, but she wanted to say it. She wanted them to be OK so they could just go forward happily.

When Madoka didn't answer her, she looked up. She saw that he was glancing around so she also looked around, wondering what he was looking for. She didn't see anything. He then stopped and she looked at him once more, curiously. He suddenly put his arms around her and then lifted her all the way off her feet, holding her against him.

"Hmm, just one wouldn't hurt I guess." He smirked. It took her a moment, but she realized what he was up to. In a flash her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms went around his neck and she was prepared to receive his kiss.

**-A Few Hours Prior-**

Madoka and Benitsubasa had been gone for only ten minutes and already the atmosphere in the house had sobered significantly. They'd been running on a strange high for a day straight and now they were crashing. They were all out of happy.

Sukaime sighed and began pacing about. Before long she bumped into a rather lethargic Oriha. Oriha mumbled an apology and moved to make her way past.

"Ah. Hey." Sukaime touched Oriha's arm to halt her. "You doin' OK?"

"I'm fine," Oriha said, though she didn't meet Sukaime's eyes.

"Hmm." Sukaime looked at her. She was tempted to "cheat," but decided against it. She didn't need to. She pulled Oriha close and hugged her. "I'm sorry."

"Wh-what? I said... I said I'm fine!" Oriha insisted, though she didn't struggle. "I'm... f-fine..." Oriha hiccuped, beginning to break down. Before long she was clinging to Sukaime, tears streaming down her face. "H-he's happy... so... so... I'm fine!" she spoke shakily in between sobs.

Sukaime understood. After Benitsubasa, Oriha had gotten the closet to Madoka. She'd toughed it out for the last 24 hours, they all had really, however in the end she felt like she'd lost. They'd all put on brave faces in front of Madoka when they'd realized he'd finally chosen, but this moment had been inevitable. It was why she'd practically chased Madoka and Benitsubasa out of the house. She knew they'd needed this time, without Madoka, to breathe and stop holding everything in.

"Hey... look..." Sukaime grabbed Oriha's chin so that their eyes met. "He might have 'chosen,' but it's not the end. He loves _all_ of us! He won't forget us, he's not that kind of person." Sukaime felt her own eyes grow damp. "I mean, I didn't even react to him and this hurts me too. I kinda got to find out what falling in love is like, you know, the human way. Pfft," Sukaime scoffed at her own words, "that sounds real romantic up until you get passed over, right?" She let out a wry laugh. "So... we'll get through this, OK?" She sniffled and stared Oriha down until the other girl nodded. "Good. Now keep hugging me, dammit!"

She was going to need a lot of hugs to make it through the rest of the day.

**-The Present-**

Benitsubasa made her way out of Madoka's room looking to acquire a glass of water. As she reached the doorway to the kitchen she saw Sukaime come out of the living room and froze.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Sukaime grinned lecherously and Benitsubasa sighed.

"OK, OK. Get it out of your system." Benitsubasa hung her head and braced herself.

"I see you're wearing the flag of conquest." Sukaime bobbed her eyebrows.

"Huh?"

"That shirt." Indeed, Benitsubasa was just wearing Madoka's shirt rather than her own clothes. Her own clothing had been... discarded at some point during the night... with Madoka's assistance.

"O-oh..." Benitsubasa blushed fiercely.

"So I guess my little girl's a woman now, eh?" Sukaime threw an arm over her shoulder.

"Err, wh-what? I've been 18 for a while!"

"Nah, you know what I mean!" Sukaime winked. Benitsubasa just looked at her blankly. "You know!" Nothing. "_You know..._" Still nothing. "Sex, you dimwit!" Benitsubasa burst out coughing and jumped away from Sukaime, face ablaze with embarrassment.

"Wh-wh-what?" Suddenly realization overcame her and the implications of her wearing Madoka's shirt became all too clear.

"Oh my god you're still a virgin..." Sukaime slumped over and groaned. "Laaame!"

"W-w-we're not rushing th-... _things_! A-and I was tired last night anyway!"

"Eh. You shoulda just gone for all out blissful exhaustion." Sukaime crossed her arms. However, she suddenly walked over and snatched the hem of the t-shirt. "Ah, yep, panties are still there," she observed before Benitsubasa swatted her hand away.

"W-we already established that!"

"So? I had to be sure! You could've just been embarrassed!"

"I'm embarrassed anyway, you pervert!"

"Well, anyway, listen!" Sukaime pointed her finger at Benitsubasa, her fingertip a mere centimeter from Benitsubasa's nose. "If you wanna take it slow, god only knows why you _would_, then that's up to you! But don't you dare put your own happiness on hold because of us! Got it?"

"I-I... that's not why-"

"GOT IT?" Sukaime snapped angrily.

"Y-y-yes!" Benitsubasa gulped. When had Sukaime even been scary?

"And if you're wondering, yes, this all sucks! Yes, we all wish we'd been chosen over you, but we're not holding it against you! We'll live, so you just go ahead, OK? You got the ultimate prize, so if you fucking waste even one moment of it, I'll seriously hate you! We all will!"

"Umm... OK." Benitsubasa nodded slowly. Where the hell had that come from? "I-is this because I didn't... err... y-you know?"

"No, but I figured this was as good a time as any. Ugh, I probably didn't even have to say that. You weren't gonna hold back on our account. You don't like us _that_ much..." Sukaime blushed and pouted. "I'm dumb, just ignore me."

"No. I... you're my friend now, so... I do like you. I don't know why, but you kept me from being lonely a lot. So, now that I'm done being a murderous bitch... can you keep doing that? Like, when Madoka's not around and stuff. And... maybe even when he is, sometimes." Benitsubasa fidgeted with her hair and looked away, waiting to see how Sukaime would react to that. She expected at least a little teasing.

"Hm?" Sukaime looked at her wide-eyed, seeming more caught off guard that anything. However, then she just smiled and pounced on her. "Aww, OK! But I want to get a picture of us like that one in the locket!"

". . . locket?"

* * *

><p><strong>WHOOPS! CLIFFHANGER! MUAHAHAHAHA!<strong>

**The next one or two chapters are going to be tough for me to write...**

**Also, when I went back to edit some of the older chapters, I made a change I feel I should share. I updated Heiwamori's appearance when I realized his outfit looked too much like Mutsu's.**

**. . .**

**The figure was a male one with weapons resembling tonfa, but much bigger. He wore a loose, dark green, hooded top underneath a black jacket, which resembled what Haihane wore, but nowhere near as tattered. His top draped down his back, going down to the back of his knees and had golden trimming along the hems. He had short, messy black hair and was rather young in appearance.**

**. . .**

**Til' next time!**


	40. I Hate Nostalgia

**I Hate Nostalgia**

Benitsubasa was practically holding her breath as she followed Sukaime into Madoka's room. What was this locket that Sukaime was talking about? She had an idea, but she was actually hoping she was wrong. If she wasn't... she had no idea what she was going to do.

"Hey th- Oh!" Madoka jumped and pulled his bedsheets up over his chest as the two girls walked in and he saw Benitsubasa wasn't alone.

"Ah, my dear Madoka-kun." Sukaime smiled. "You still got pants on under there?" Benitsubasa heard Madoka coughing up a lung in shock, but she ignored it.

"Hey, hey! Back on topic!" Benitsubasa snapped her fingers to get Sukaime's attention. "Where is it?"

"Oh, right." Sukaime led Benitsubasa over to Madoka's dresser. "I just put it on the corner over here. I guess no one noticed? I found it on the floor yesterday. I think it was taped to the back of that picture. You make an _adorable_ princess by the way!"

"Uhuh..." Benitsubasa muttered and snatched the locket off the dresser. It seemed fairly cheap, but not necessarily flimsy. She moved to open it, but her fingers froze. What was she going to see inside? She sighed, shaking her head. She was being a coward. "Screw it." She pressed the button to unlatch it and pried it open to reveal the tiny picture inside.

After a few moments of silence, Sukaime waved her hand in front of Benitsubasa's face. "Uh, Beni? Darling? Hello?" Benitsubasa swatted her hand away, baring her teeth angrily. "Gah! Sorry!" Sukaime took a step back.

"Uh, err, no... i-it's just..." Benitsubasa felt bad immediately, but the distraction had been aggravating.

"Is... that the girl you were friends with when you were young?" Sukaime asked softly, folding her hands more respectfully now. Benitsubasa nodded. Indeed, within the locket was an old picture of her with Ayumi. She remembered when it was taken in a little photo booth at an arcade.

"I... I think... this was supposed to be my birthday present," Benitsubasa spoke quietly, mostly to herself. She lifted a hand and stared at it. With that hand she'd carelessly knocked aside Ayumi's gift all those years ago, and yet here it was. Why? If it had been on the back of the picture, then that meant Satoru had wanted her to see it. It meant he'd gone and found it and hid it from her for who knew how long. So why give it to her now?

"You OK?" Sukaime asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm... uh..." Benitsubasa blinked a few times, trying to think clearly. "O-out!" she suddenly shouted.

"Wh-"

"Out! Out! Both of you get out of the room!" Benitsubasa demanded loudly, putting the locket back down and then herding Sukaime out the door. "I said both!" she snapped when she saw that Madoka was still in his bed.

"What the heck is going o- HEY!" She soon had him dragged out of bed and shoved out of the room in literally nothing but his boxers before shutting the door behind him.

**. . .**

"Damn! Can I feel?" Sukaime asked, looking at Madoka's mostly naked form.

". . . what?" Madoka looked at her, still seeming bewildered after being tossed out of his own room.

"Just the abs. They look... decent." Sukaime slowly reached a hand out, but Madoka shied away.

"Please don't make this more awkward than it already is," Madoka requested, "a-are you seriously drooling?"

"Eh. Probably." Sukaime wiped her face off with the back of her hand. "Can I at least call Oriha and Kaie over? I wanna see if either of them will faint at the sight of you."

"I'd... really rather you didn't." Two minutes later, Benitsubasa burst out of the room, now fully dressed.

"I'm going out!" she announced and raced out of the building.

"What's going-" Oriha's almost question was followed by a whimper, a sigh, and a thud as the girl actually collapsed upon entering the hall.

"Called it." Sukaime was pleased.

"Gah! I'm awake!" Oriha popped back up moments later. "Wh-where is he?"

"Back in his room, you're too slow."

**. . .**

Benitsubasa was alone, so she had taken the rooftop route to get to her destination. It saved a lot of time compared to when she had to walk the streets with Madoka. She had gone to her tuner's. Before she'd gotten there, she had a lot of questions. When she'd arrived, she couldn't think of them anymore. She'd been reduced to only one query. She wanted to know where Ayumi lived – that was it.

She didn't care about the locket anymore, or why she'd been given it after so long. She just wanted to put the past to rest, one way or the other. He'd been happy to see her and readily supplied her with the address. However, he'd also convinced her to linger, saying that she'd probably have better luck going a little later in the day after normal work hours. She'd decided that a little quality time with Satoru while she was out wouldn't hurt.

That had come to an end an hour ago. She had now made her way to a place she didn't recognize. It was an average dwelling in an equally average neighborhood. Well, she supposed Ayumi had been a fairly average girl. Unfortunately, when she walked to the door it seemed that no one was home. She gathered the courage to knock, but there was no response.

Now what? That was the question she was left with. She trudged away from the house and sat on the curb, chin in her hands. She'd gone all that way, but for what? She could wait, she supposed, but what if Ayumi didn't live there anymore? It wasn't like Satoru would have had a reason to keep track of the girl.

She heard the sound of a jogger's footsteps and leaned forward slightly to make room, not desiring to be crashed into. The footsteps passed by and she leaned back, still trying to decide what she should do. Maybe she could just ask Satoru to double-check?

Suddenly she heard footsteps again, except it sounded like they were running, and toward her. She reacted slowly, too slowly, and soon her shoulders had been grabbed and she was turned around. The culprit was an older girl, a young woman really, in a jogging outfit with slightly rounded cheeks, as if she was a bit overweight.

"O-oh my... is... I-I-" The girl didn't seem capable of forming a sentence at the moment.

"Umm, can I help you?" Benitsubasa asked, confused. There was something in the back of her head that was screaming at her, though, but nothing clicked right away.

"B-Beni... tsu-" Then it clicked. Ayumi had been a runner, and this girl's hair, her eyes, and her face – they all matched up. She was older now, but there was no doubt.

"Ayumi?" Benitsubasa spoke, setting off the bomb she'd apparently been sitting on.

"It really is you!" Ayumi was suddenly on her knees, arms around Benitsubasa. "Y-you're really here!" It only lasted two seconds before Ayumi let go like Benitsubasa was on fire. "I-I'm s-sorry! You probably don't want me hugging all over you after so long..." Ayumi got back up and backed away. Benitsubasa also pushed herself to her feet and shook her head.

"No... it's OK." Benitsubasa held her arms open a little tentatively. It really _had_ been a long time. Ayumi leapt back at her tearfully and this time Benitsubasa returned the embrace. It didn't feel wrong. Nearly a decade later and Ayumi was still her friend and happy to see her, even after what she'd done. After a short while they parted and Benitsubasa had to ask, "Why are you so happy to see me?"

"Oh, well..." Ayumi looked like she was embarrassed. "W-weird question. Remember when I first took you out to eat?"

"Err, yeah?" What did that have to do with anything?

"You know how I said I was gonna hang out with friends, or something like that."

"Uhh..." Benitsubasa honestly didn't remember it _that _well.

"It doesn't' matter." Ayumi shook her head and sighed. "The point is I lied. I didn't have any friends. You were literally my only friend until I got a boyfriend, and even _that_ jerk wasn't worth my time. I think he was only with me because he liked how I looked in my running shorts..."

"I remember _him_..." Benitsubasa muttered dejectedly. He was the reason everything had gone wrong in her opinion.

"Y-yeah..." Ayumi rubbed the back of her neck nervously. However, she suddenly perked up and grabbed Benitsubasa's hand. "You have to come inside!"

"O-OK!" Benitsubasa allowed herself to be led inside. Moments later she heard barking and a dog ran at her. It stopped a little bit away, sticking its nose out to sniff at her from a slight distance. "Taku-chan!" Benitsubasa remembered the dog too, but she actually liked those memories. However, the dog didn't seem to remember her quite as well. "Um, hello?"

"Sorry, he'll warm back up to you soon. His breed's not really that friendly with people they don't know. He just needs some time to remember you, I'm sure," Ayumi told her. After that, Benitsubasa heard a meow. Since when had Ayumi owned a cat? She'd thought that having a dog meant Ayumi couldn't have one.

However, moments later, a silver-gray cat trotted into view. Upon seeing Benitsubasa, it made a b-line to her feet and began meowing loudly at her.

"Wh-what? What do you want?" Benitsubasa asked it, wondering why it was freaking out so much. She raised her hands in confusion and that prompted the cat to jump right into her arms and begin purring loudly. She felt her eyes starting to grow damp before she even knew why. She spun on her heel and stared at Ayumi questioningly, an almost desperate look in her eyes.

"Y-your dad dropped him off at my house one day and asked me to take care of him. He said something had happened and you couldn't keep him anymore. He said that maybe, someday... well... a-and here you are!" Ayumi smiled.

"Takeru... chan?" Benitsubasa felt a tear roll down her cheek and she began hugging the cat as tightly as she dared. The soothing, rhythmic sound of Takeru's purring reverberated through her as she held him, and she felt like she was a little girl again. For a moment she was reminded of a time when all that mattered was his warmth and nothing was scary. "Th-thank you!" she hiccuped, trying to wipe her face dry with one hand while holding her cat with the other, "thank you!"

"Hehe, I'm glad I could put you two back together!" Ayumi nodded. She was silent for a time, letting Benitsubasa stroke Takeru's fur in peace, but eventually she spoke up again. "Um, I have to ask... Why did you suddenly show up?"

"Oh!" Benitsubasa stopped her fruitless struggles to keep her face dry and dug into her pocket. She pulled out the tiny locket and held it out. "I found this today."

"Huh?" Ayumi took it and opened it, and immediately she sucked in a surprised breath. "Oh my god! I remember putting this together! What happened?"

"I guess Satoru found it at some point and decided to keep it. He probably figured that I wouldn't want it back then, so he just held onto it until... now. I'm not sure why he thought it was a good idea to give it to me all of a sudden, but... I guess he was right."

"I guess so." Ayumi giggled happily, but then she began to look concerned. "So... this isn't a one time thing, is it? I mean, a lot's changed, so I don't expect things to go back to the way they were, I mean, they _can't_, but..." She gulped. "A-are we friends again?"

Benitsubasa didn't know how to answer. Or rather, she did, but she wanted to word it properly. She wanted to express how she really felt about what was happening. What would Madoka say? Well, she supposed he wasn't the _best_ at these kinds of things, but he was better than she was. She found that the answer was actually quite simple in the end.

"When did we stop?" Benitsubasa asked. The way she saw it, if Ayumi had really been that happy to see her, then their friendship had never truly died. "We just... didn't see each other for a little while." Ayumi's response was to burst out laughing, though it was a happy laugh and not at all mocking.

"Wow, that's... wow..." Ayumi walked closer and hugged her from the side, so as not to squish Takeru. "That makes me really happy. Thank you."

"But..." This was where things got complicated, Benitsubasa realized. "Um..."

"Oh, uh, what is it?" Ayumi stepped away, looking worried.

"I-it's just that there's a lot of stuff I'm... doing, and... I'm going to be busy for a while, I think. I'm not sure how often I could visit right now. And... can you keep watching Takeru for a little longer?" Benitsubasa was afraid Ayumi would think the worst, but she just smiled and nodded.

"I was getting a bit nervous, but if I'm keeping Takeru then I know you'll definitely be back!" She grinned and then saluted. "No problem!"

"R-right!" Benitsubasa let out a sigh of relief. That had gone better than she'd hoped. "Err, b-but I kinda want to hold him for a while longer... if you don't mind." It was going to take some effort to put him back down when she eventually had to leave...

**. . .**

Madoka arrived home after his first day of work for the week, and Benitsubasa hadn't been there to escort him back. Upon walking inside, she still wasn't there to greet him.

"Damn-" he began to mutter, but suddenly Oriha and Sukaime grabbed his wrists and dragged him into the living room. "Wh-whoa! What's going on?"

"Drop and give me twenty!" Sukaime demanded.

"Excuse me?" Madoka looked at her disbelievingly. He had a bad feeling he knew what this was about.

"W-with your shirt off!" Oriha also threw in her own demand.

"Ah, yes, good point! That's arguably the most important part!" Sukaime agreed emphatically.

"You want me to do shirtless push-ups?" Madoka groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Kaie, help me out here!" He looked to his last sekirei, but she just coughed and looked away. She was not going to be of any assistance. "Et tu?" His eye twitched. This was absolutely ridiculous.

"Oh come on! Just a _little_ fan service for us poor, neglected wretches?" Sukaime begged, slumping over and pouting. Madoka glared at her, but finally held up his hand, fingers extended.

"I'll give you _five._"

"Sh-shirt off?" Oriha's eyes practically sparkled with anticipation.

"Oh my f- YES! Shirt off..." Madoka grit his teeth.

"Would you like assistance disrob-" Kaie spoke up, but Madoka shot her a withering glance that quickly silenced her.

"Bah, you're not even going to be glistening with sweat by the end of this..." Sukaime muttered a complaint.

"I'm not even that in shape! I don't know why you're bothering in the first place!" Madoka argued as he pulled his top off.

"But you're not... not... not..." Sukaime seemed to stall mentally once his shirt was off, and she had to shake her head vigorously before continuing. "Ahem, you're not _out of shape_ either!"

"Thanks, I guess?" Madoka fidgeted awkwardly. He was becoming fully aware that he was now standing topless and being ogled by three girls. He felt like a piece of meat.

"Yep! Now get to it!" Sukaime pointed at the ground. Madoka muttered a few choice words as he got down on the floor and began doing the push-ups.

"Th-they're rippling..." Oriha breathed out as she stared. Unfortunately for them, his five push-ups didn't take long and he quickly jumped back to his feet and threw his shirt back on.

"Now, if you don't mind, I got a call while I was at work!" Madoka snapped, bringing them all out of their dazed stupor. If said call hadn't put him in such a bad mood, he might have been more flattered, but alas...

"Oh, yes, I remember that. What was it about?" Kaie asked. Madoka took a deep breath and then let it out.

"It was from Minaka." That immediately filled the room to the brim with tensions. "He's starting the next stage."

"God _dammit_!" Sukaime swore and kicked the air in front of her angrily. "I am _not_ ready to deal with this shit right now!"

"Sorry." Madoka shrugged helplessly. He wasn't thrilled either. "This one is an opt in kind of thing, apparently. We don't _have_ to show up, but it sounds like this is where the last of the jinki are being handed out. We should go and help Kouji and Avaron get one. We'll be back-up more than anything."

"Right, yeah, that makes sense." Sukaime nodded, though she still had sweat dripping down the side of her face.

"When is it?" Kaie interjected.

"Not right away. We have a few days. It'll be toward the end of the week, I guess," Madoka told them. "Anyway, since Benitsubasa isn't back yet, there's something I want to go do. You guys stay here and wait for her. Call my cellphone when she gets back. Kaie knows the number. In fact, why don't you help them memorize it while I'm gone."

**. . .**

Madoka was barely three minutes away when racing footsteps caught up to him. He looked down to see Oriha now trotting by his side.

"What did I say?" Madoka scowled in annoyance. Normally they were more obedient than this, especially lately.

"You said to wait for Benitsubasa, but the other two can take care of that! And I remembered the number!" Oriha insisted and then rattled off his cellphone number perfectly, first try. Madoka scoffed and shook his head, but he couldn't get mad.

"All right, all right. You can be my escort, I guess."

"Y-yeah! Sukaime said someone should keep an eye on you! Just in case!" Oriha clung to his arm cheerfully.

"Right. It was _all_ her idea and you had nothing to do with it..."

"W-well I didn't say no..." Oriha mumbled, and then suddenly pulled away. "Err..." She suddenly looked nervous, and even took a step farther to the side, a little more out of his personal space. It was unusual behavior, and, in hindsight, no one had linked arms with him on the way home.

He found himself smiling, finally thinking he had an idea what was going on. He reached out and grabbed her hand, taking hold of it. It was just like when he'd first winged her, except this time he wanted to hold her hand, and not just to make her feel better. She was important to him too, and he wanted to make sure she knew that. She immediately blushed, a tiny, nervous smile springing to her face, but she retook that step, getting closer to him once more.

**. . .**

The destination the two ended up at was a familiar one. Madoka had been thinking about how he wanted to deal with the next stage ever since he'd learned about it. It was a public event. MBI wasn't picking the contestants, so anyone who wanted to participate would be allowed to. He was well aware of the fact that he wasn't necessarily the only person who had allies. He'd been involved in a scuffle between two groups, after all... though Kaie had apparently put an end to both sides.

That didn't mean there weren't more alliances out there though. That meant he needed numbers, and he'd quickly realized there was one place he could go to help tip things in his favor. Sakiko, his ex girlfriend's best friend and fellow ashikabi as it turned out.

He let go of Oriha's hand and asked her to hang back a little as he walked up to the house. He was in luck and Sakiko passed by one of the house's windows as he was approaching. She happened to glance over and see him approaching. The panicked look on her face was priceless, and he couldn't' help but just smile and wave.

Moments later the front door opened and she slipped out, shutting it behind her.

"Y-you can't be here! M-my p-parents are home!" Sakiko whined pitifully. "I-it's hard enough keeping what Shigeru is a secret without you being here raising more questions!" Shigeru, right, that was her sekirei's name.

"I'm sure." Madoka couldn't argue that his presence made her life _easier_. "But I have a good reason for being here. Did you get a call from MBI today?"

"Yes, and I'm staying out of it!" Sakiko stated firmly, well, as firmly as a girl with the voice of a small mouse could manage. Madoka shook his head.

"You should go. I have two friends who are ashikabi. If you come with, that makes four of us. It'll be safer, and you'll have a chance to get a jinki. I have no idea what those are for, but they're definitely important. If my math is correct, there'll be enough to go around." Well, as long as their alliance was able to dominate the match.

"So... you just want to work... t-together?" Sakiko looked hesitant. She then glanced behind him. "And... she's here, why?" Madoka looked behind him to see Oriha peeking around the corner of the gate. "Do you not trust me enough to come a-alone, or something?"

"Nah, she's just here because she wanted to hold my hand while I was out walking," Madoka said casually. It was pretty much the truth. Oriha's pleasant blush concurred with his words.

"Oh..." Sakiko also ended up blushing. "Err, so... you're l-like _that_ with them... even with m-more than one."

"Err, what?" Now it was Madoka's turn to end up red faced.

"Actually, since you're here, can we talk? I-I'll think about what you're asking, b-but I want to ask _you_ something." Sakiko glanced about nervously. Madoka nodded and she led him to a small stone bench near a patch of flowers.

"OK. So what is it?"

"So... sekirei... d-do you really think it's OK to be w-with them? I mean, you know, they way y-_you_ are..." She looked at him furtively, though she mostly just stared at the ground.

"OK, first of all..." Madoka began, but then sighed. There was no point arguing. She wasn't wrong. Not even with her assumption that he was like that with Oriha. While he was effectively focusing his affection on Benitsubasa now, he'd... had his intimate moments with Oriha. "Never mind," he grumbled and began thinking. "Yes." He went with the simple answer.

"Th-that's it?"

"Look, I love my sekirei, OK? And it's not what you're thinking. I... I'm only _with_ one of them. I'm still trying to figure that whole situation out, but that's not the point. The point is, they're still people. Whatever else they are, that's what's important. They feel, they love, they hurt, and all the other things we do, so do they. Just the same. If our feelings are the same, then I don't see anything to stop me. Why do you ask?"

"It's... just..."

"How are things going with your sekirei?" Madoka decided to just cut through her awkwardness and get to what he figured was the heart of the issue.

"I... don't know. The way he l-looks at me sometimes bothers me." She wasn't even glancing in his direction anymore, and she was red up to her ears. "But, at the same time... I don't hate it. I don't understand it."

"Well, how does he look at you?" Madoka raised an eyebrow.

"Um? Like... g-greedy, I guess." She was fidgeting a lot and biting her lip. "It's kind of exciting, but he sc-scares me, so I kind of... keep my distance. L-like you, said, we don't even know what sekirei are, and... yeah..."

"There has to be more to it than that, right?" If she'd winged him, he had to believe that just not knowing what a sekirei was wasn't her biggest issue at this point. He had an idea, though. "Did you see him in a fight or something?"

"I don't get out much, so... not really. He's talked about the fighting, but..." She looked away. "Well, actually... I told you about m-my ex, right? How he was stalking me? Sh-Shigeru is the one who put an end to that. He was trying to talk to me about the whole winging process and how he was reacting to me, and then my ex showed up. He tried to chase Shigeru away, but then Shigeru just got angry. I th-thought he was going to kill him!" She hung her head. "I-I had to stop Shigeru from hurting him really bad, and I told him that if he just let him go, then I'd do what he wanted."

"Oh..." Well, that wasn't the best start to their relationship. "Is he mean to you now or anything?"

"No!" Sakiko shook her head vigorously. "He's just protective, I think. He even apologized later. He said he hadn't meant to scare me into winging him or anything. I think he's worried I regret it... I mean, I don't... I think... it's just after seeing that I know how violent he can be."

"All right, I understand." Madoka felt he had a decent grasp on things at that point. "The best advice I can give is to just get past that. If he cares about you, then you have nothing to worry about. He's bound to you, and he literally needs you. You don't have to be scared of him. Scared for him, scared for the people he could hurt, maybe, but _you_ are safe. I have four sekirei, OK? And I've seen what they can do, but they listen to me." He did his best to choose his words carefully. "It's... you can't think of them like pets or anything, you can't just expect blind obedience and devotion." Well, actually, in some cases you probably could, but he didn't like that idea. "It's a partnership. You have to be able to talk to him and you need to be ready to listen when he talks back."

"Um... OK." She still looked uncertain.

"So, how do you feel about him?"

"He's..." She flushed once more. "Nice to look at, at least. And he's polite... and I guess he really is nice to me..." She seemed to zone out and go into her own little world the more she thought about it. Madoka shook his head. It was only going to take the slightest push and then those two would be all over each other, he was sure of it.

"Look. If he reacted to you, that means you're special. There are dozens of ashikabi out there, but he felt that way about you. That makes you special to him. All you need to worry about is how _you _feel, OK? Forget everything else. You can worry about the rest afterward."

Sakiko bit her lip and nodded before shooting to her feet. "Th-thanks. You're right. I-I think I want to go talk to him right now." She looked ready to dart off right then and there, and even took a few steps, but she stopped and turned around. "And... wh-wherever this stage four thing is happening, um, I'll be there to look for you, OK? I... I hope... You _are_ on my side, right?"

"If I'd wanted to get rid of you, I had my chance. Besides, I'd feel like an ass if I betrayed you of all people. I knew you before all this began," Madoka assured her. "So, thanks right back at you. It'll be good to have more help."

**. . .**

Benitsubasa had ended up in an awkward situation. Ayumi's parents had come home and Benitsubasa had been invited to stay for dinner. She'd been too hungry to say no. Answering questions about herself had been a nightmare. She'd had to lie or skirt the truth more times than she could count. Her answers had been just barely satisfactory and often obviously evasive. The fact that she was in what one could call a martial arts outfit had certainly not helped divert attention from her.

Trying to explain why she couldn't take Takeru with her had also been difficult. Ayumi had agreed to it without question, but actually trying to explain it, or rather avoid explaining it, had been a truly sticky situation.

She'd survived though, and she now stood outside with Ayumi, preparing to say her final farewell. She'd also managed to learn about Ayumi, so it hadn't all been hell. It seemed Ayumi still had no friends and had only just gotten back into running, hence her having a plumper figure than Benitsubasa had recalled.

"S-sorry about that. That must have been tough, huh?" Ayumi looked embarrassed. "My parents are difficult, but I can't complain. They're still putting up with me..."

"It's fine." Benitsubasa shrugged. It was over, and nothing bad had happened.

"Um, but you're OK, right? I mean... I kinda accepted a long time ago that you're weird, but... what's going on? I'm your friend right? You can tell me things... i-if you want."

"If I told you, you'd probably die," Benitsubasa said flatly. She figured Ayumi would probably laugh it off and that would be that.

"You mean _you'd_ have to kill me, right? I think that's how the expression goes." Indeed, Ayumi was laughing.

"Y-yeah... I guess." Benitsubasa shuffled uncomfortably. "Look. I _am_ weird, OK? Really, really weird. If I can explain it all to you someday, I will, but... for now, can you just trust me and and watch my cat?" She didn't know why she'd said that. It would have been so much easier, _safer,_ to say almost anything else.

"Uh... yeah, sure." Ayumi nodded, though she was beginning to look a little nervous. Then her eyes went wide. "Oh my god."

"Wh-what?" Benitsubasa took a step back. She had a bad feeling. Had she messed up? Was her friendship ruined?

"Your hair and eyes! It's not fake, is it? It's been real all along! Holy crap! Wh-what does that mean?" Ayumi clutched her head. She was on the verge of knowing too much.

"Like I said! If I can explain someday then I will!" Benitsubasa shouted, not denying it, and that was all she could give Ayumi. "So... please just wait, OK?" Ayumi took a deep breath, but then nodded. "Thanks... um... s-so?" Benitsubasa held out her arms. Ayumi tilted her head questioningly, but then smiled in realization and hugged her.

"Yeah. I'll wait. I figure it'll be worth it, huh? Whatever it is, be sure to wow me!"

Benitsubasa chuckled. She was positive she would. "OK. I guess... I guess I should get going." She had to imagine Madoka was tearing his hair out worrying.

"Right." Ayumi let her go. "And try to visit at least a little!" Benitsubasa couldn't form another word. She didn't intend to walk away forever this time, but her throat was still beginning to ache. She had to believe this wasn't it. She'd make it and she'd come back.

But there was so much she had to do and to survive. At that moment, all she could do was nod before turning and running off. Once she was far away, she figured she was probably safe. And if not, well, she supposed Ayumi could have one, little hint.

She jumped, leaping all the way up to a nearby rooftop before heading home. On the third rooftop she jumped to, she realized she wasn't alone. Someone was there, looking almost like they'd been waiting for her. It was growing dark, so she couldn't entirely make out who it was, but the figure was female with long hair. She also looked to be carrying two swords.

"You should be more discrete," she said, tilting her head forward as if directing a glare Benitsubasa's way.

"Wha- Who are you?" Benitsubasa set her feet, ready to fight if she had to.

"MBI's sekirei. We're not fighting, so you don't need more than that. Just remember what I said." She then turned and jumped away. Benitsubasa's heart began racing, but she realized that she, whoever she was, was not heading toward Ayumi's house.

She stayed on that rooftop for quite some time after that, just staring in the direction of Ayumi's house. She had to be sure. She waited until it was too dark to see and she could keep watch no longer. It was time to go home.

**. . .**

When Benitsubasa arrived, she was a little upset at how late she was getting back. Any leftovers from dinner would be cold by now. She'd eaten dinner at Ayumi's house, sure, but she'd had to hold back. They'd given her a meal portioned for a normal girl. A second meal, even cold, and especially one made by Oriha, would still be welcomed.

She decided to head into the kitchen first and rooted around, but found nothing.

"Ah! I thought I heard you come back!" Sukaime's voice came from behind. "Straight for the food, huh? Well, I supposed we should be glad you made it back at all after skipping breakfast, lunch,_ and_ dinner!" That was another reason Benitsubasa really wanted something to eat. Satoru had fed her a little as well, but she was still way behind on her eating that day. "Do you feel faint?"

"I'm fine..." Benitsubasa muttered. "No leftovers? You didn't save me anything?" she asked grumpily.

"Hey, _you _were the one who chose to stay out all day without telling us where you were going! And... Oriha didn't cook, so there weren't any leftovers."

"Is... she sick?" Benitsubasa cocked an eyebrow. Oriha always cooked! As far as Benitsubasa knew, Oriha _liked _cooking! Especially if it was for Madoka.

"Nah, she went out with Madoka-"

"_WHAT?!_" A vein popped in her forehead. Immediately she stopped and forced herself to calm down. There had to be more to it; Madoka wouldn't do that to her and definitely not so soon!

"_Chill._ It wasn't a date or anything. Madoka wanted to go out alone, but I sent Oriha after him to play bodyguard," Sukaime explained, "and on the way back Madoka dropped her off at Avaron's so she could have a little sleepover with Masukagami."

"Oh..." Benitsubasa crossed her arms and chewed her lip nervously. That had been an ugly display of jealousy on her part.

"Anyway, raid the cabinets real quick if you need to, but then come join us in the living room. Madoka sent me to fetch you. He needs to talk to you."

Benitsubasa decided to take Sukaime's advice and began scrounging for something quick and easy to stuff her face with. "Any idea what?"

"Oh, you know, Sekirei Plan stuff." Sukaime said it casually, but, when Benitsubasa's head snapped around, she saw that Sukaime looked just as upset as she herself felt. "That's why he went out. He's trying to plan ahead for it." She heard Sukaime take a deep breath as she reached up and grabbed her favorite cereal. "So what _did_ you get up to?" Sukaime asked her.

At lot had happened, and some of it had bothered her, but for the most part just thinking about it put Benitsubasa in a better mood. Enough so that she smiled at Sukaime.

"I found my cat!" Her smile split into a full blown grin, only growing wider at Sukaime's confused look. "Come on, let's go see Madoka-kun." Benitsubasa threw an arm around Sukaime's shoulders and then held out her cereal box as they walked out of the kitchen. "Want some?"

* * *

><p><strong>Happy Benitsubasa is weird to write... Happy Benitsubasa hugging her long lost cat is tearful to write. I seriously cried. Let me know if you got emotional at all while reading that scene as well or if I'm just a big baby who likes cats too much.<strong>

**So, anyway, enjoy this more relaxing chapter, enjoy the foreshadowing, and strap in for the next one...**

**Bonus question!: Have you noticed Sukaime's quirk yet? I do my best to never forget it when I'm writing.  
><strong>

**Til' next time!**


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